Medijski watch dog

Decembrska številka revije SINFO, s katero Urad vlade za komuniciranje obvešča tujino, v angleščini kakopak, o čudovitih dogodkih doma, postreže na prvem mestu z razmislekom zunanjega ministra Dimitrija Rupla pod naslovom »Slovenian EU Presidency under Fire at Home«. Naslov ne razočara, Ruplov traktat se bere kot apoteoza ravnanja vlade, orisa medijskih teorij zarote, krivic, ki se dogajajo ministru in sploh konspirativnosti, ki jo je čutiti na vsakem koraku. Če ste del te vlade. Vodilna nit je obračun s peticijo, ponujanje prave resnice, ki jo je treba sporočili svetu, seveda vse financirano iz našega, davkoplačevalskega žepa. Celotna številka je tule, spodaj izbor Ruplovih analitičnih ocen:

O ognjenih zubljih tistih, ki streljajo po vladi in njenem predsedovanju:

Regardless of the fact that it was very busy preparing itself for the Presidency of the EU Council (in the first semester of 2008), the Government of the Republic of Slovenia has been under particularly strong fire since last summer. Routine operations turned into drama, and local conflicts (concerning for example one Roma family settling next to an unfriendly village) became national problems that were reported to the EU institutions and accompanied by severe accusations (of human rights violations and ethnic discrimination). On September 10, 2007, a group of Slovenian journalists sent out (to the EU Governments among others) a Petition “on censorship and political pressures against journalists in Slovenia”. The Petition mentions the role Slovenia will play in the EU in 2008. The EU, say the petitioners, will thus be headed by a state where pressures against journalists have become commonplace and where an authoritarian way of government neglecting democracy and freedom of the media is being strengthened. Such accusations by definition raise eyebrows. In most societies, journalists enjoy equal confidence as, or even more confidence than, politicians. To me, it looked as if somebody else wanted to take over the EU Presidency instead of our Government or, maybe, offer the Presidency to another country.

O dobrih kapitalistih in nedolžnosti vlade glede obvladovanja medijev:

Slovenian “Social Democrats” proved to be good capitalists. Most of the CEO’s or directors became private owners of the “socially owned” companies they used to administer. Most of these former administrators (in the name of the working class) have become quite prosperous by having access to generous credits from friendly banks and to cheap shares that recovered value after they have been properly distributed. Among the companies the members of the Slovenian new class privatized were also the media. The leading media (like Delo, Dnevnik, Večer) are controlled by companies with directors from the main opposition parties. The same is true of the TV stations. With the exception of the Radio and Television Slovenia, the public broadcasting organization, the Republic of Slovenia has no ownership share in any media station.

O krivičnih obsodbah, grdi peticiji in domnevnem povabilu opoziciji, da prevzame vodenje EU:

After the petition of the 570 journalists - denouncing the Government of Slovenia - had been sent to all EU leaders and media, the Prime Minister asked the Parliament for a vote of confidence. In his publicly broadcast speech in the Parliament, PM Janša deplored the fact that the journalists’ false arguments had not been discussed in Slovenia, before they were exported to be later projected on the domestic scene. He argued that the Presidency of the EU would be complicated by domestic confrontation, and the real issues could become obscured by the partisan agendas. The PM even invited the Opposition to take over the Government and the Presidency of the EU. The invitation was rejected, whereby the Opposition admitted that it could not assume the responsibility. On November 19, 2007, the parliament voted in favor of the confidence to the Government (51: 33). Let me add that, when the journalists’ petition became known to a wider public, some of its signatories declared that they had been misled by a text that was different from the text that was sent abroad. The main messages of the parliamentary and other recent debates have been that the exported petitions have been untrue and have abused the dignity of the journalistic profession. The PM also had a chance publicly to expose the actual financial and personal relations concerning the ownership of the Slovenian media. Also other false reports (about discrimination of the Roma people, about violations of the human rights of the “Erased”) have been exposed and corrected. The main message, of course, was that Slovenia is prepared and proud to assume the Presidency of the Council of the EU.

O tem, zakaj minister ne sme več biti kolumnist:

It is interesting that last summer, in August 2007, the new responsible editor of the main Slovenian daily Delo sent to me an E-mail canceling a one and a half year old agreement between the paper and myself to contribute twice a month a column on topical foreign policy issues. So, my cooperation with Delo was ended with the explanation that such cooperation might be interpreted as governmental pressure on the paper.

O tem, da mediji streljajo na vlado z dveh strani:

Particularly the media enjoyed an unprecedented and unusual freedom: they could attack the formal Government not from the Opposition, but from the position of the “fourth branch of government”. They are in power and in opposition at the same time.