Media of Slovenia

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Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The media of Slovenia refers to mass media outlets based in Slovenia. Television, magazines, and newspapers are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. The Constitution of Slovenia guarantees freedom of speech and Slovenia ranked 34th in the 2014 Press Freedom Index report compiled by Reporters Without Borders, between the United Kingdom and Spain.

There were 1396 registered media outlets in Slovenia in 2009. The gross value of the advertising market in 2008 was of 522.5 million euro, 15% more than in the previous year. The greatest share of advertising goes to television (55%), followed by print press (30%), outdoor media (7%), radio (4.4%) and online media (3.5%).[1]

The main media companies include three print media (Delo, Dnevnik and Večer) and two broadcast media (Radiotelevizija Slovenija and Pro Plus). The biggest remains the public service broadcaster RTV Slovenia, with a 124.7 million euro turnover (2008), of which 62.2% from subscription fees. Advertising covers from 1/3 to 1/2 of the main newspapers' budget.[1]

In Slovenia, the print press has a wider reach (89%) than radio and television (around 66%). The individual average TV viewing time is of 3 hours.[1]

Media regulation in Slovenia has oscillated with different political majorities. The centre-right governments which have been in power in 2004-2008 have strengthened the role of the state in the Slovenian media system. [1]

History

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Legislative framework

Slovenia had to revamp its media legislation following independence, democratisation and economic liberalisation. Between 1991 and 1994, when the first Media Law was adopted, the allocation of the main broadcasting frequencies was done by the national authority, the Telecommunications Office, although without legal basis. The Media Law instituted a Broadcasting Council, responsible for licence allocations, which inherited an exhausted frequency fund, chaotic ownership relations, and invalid (or non-existent) programming concepts, and could this hardly influence the development of the sector. [2]

The 2001 Media Law (Section 9) protects media plurality and diversity by restricting media concentration. According to the Media Law the publisher of a daily newspaper, or any natural or legal person, or group of related persons, who has more than a 20% share in the capital or assets of that publisher, or more than 20% of management or voting rights, may not be an owner or co-founder of a radio or television broadcaster, and may not engage in radio and television activities. Radio and television broadcasters are subject to the same restrictions concerning daily newspapers ownership.[2]

Media Law amendments in 2006 abolished the former maximum ownership cap at 33% for any persons, foreigners included, and extended the “right to correction” available to anyone upset or offended by published information and willing to present his/her opposite version of facts - to be published in the same place (front page included) and with the same or larger space of the original. This led to ample "corrections", in one case covering two pages of a magazine.[2]

The 1994 Law on RTV Slovenia regulates public broadcasting. RTV Slovenia has a Programming Council and a Supervisory Board; RTV is required by law to be independent and autonomous, to respect human integrity and dignity in its programs, to observe the principle of impartiality, and to ensure the truthfulness of information and the pluralism of opinions and religious beliefs. The law also requires the public broadcaster to provide radio and TV programs for the Italian and Hungarian minorities in Slovenia.[2]

After EU accession, the new 2005 Law on RTV Slovenia reintroduced a dominant role of the state and the executive in the appointment of RTV's governing bodies, excluding civil society institutions (e.g. universities, association of writers, and sports organisations) which were previously involved. The draft law raised several domestic and international criticisms, including from the International Federation of Journalists and the Council of Europe, but the Slovenian institutions dismissed most of them[3] and went along with adopting the new law in November 2005, which was later narrowly confirmed by 50.7% of voters in a special referendum.[2]

The current governance system of RTV Slovenia allows control over almost all managerial bodies and over the appointment of all key editors to the governmental majority. Majority parties also control the majority of the new Programming Council and Supervisory Board of RTVS, thus being also able to appoint RTVS' Director General, who will in turn appoint and manage the directors of radio and TV, the editors-in-chief, and the senior management. This governance system is deemed a threat to the independence and credibility, trust, and respect with the public of RTV Slovenia by the European Journalism Centre.[2] The following period indeed saw a host of cases of political interference in the editorial and journalistic work of the Slovenian public broadcaster, whose public credibility (particularly for the TV) fell dramatically.

Status and self-regulation of journalists

Liberalisation, privatisation, and the trasformation of the journalism profession from advocacy journalism of Marxist–Leninist tradition to Western-style standards of impartiality required the development of self-regulatory bodies and codes of journalistic ethics.

The Slovenian Association of Journalists drafted in 1988 a first new code of journalistic ethics, in which the role of the journalist shifted from a “socio-political worker” to a communicator “primarily responsible to the public”.[2] The code was later amended in 1991 and 2002, with the publication of today's Kodeks novinarjev Slovenije (“Code of Slovenian Journalists”).

The Novinarsko častno razsodišče (“Ethics Commission of Journalists”, NČR) was established in 1997 by the same Slovenian Association of Journalists in 1997, with 9 journalists or editors as members, and the aim to strengthen ethical and professional standards and ensure that journalistic authors respect the standards written in the Code of Slovenian Journalists. Anyone can file compliants to the NČR for violations of the Code standards. Proceedings are publics and can lead to a declaration, a statement of infringement, or a settlement - and even to the exclusion of a journalist from the Association or the Journalists' Union, in extreme cases. However, no such extreme case has happened yet, and other cases rarely trigger reconsideration.[2] NČR decisions maintain a private character and have no public officiality.

The Varuh pravic poslušalcev in gledalcev (“Listener and Viewer Ombudsman”) of RTV Slovenia was appointed for the first time in 2008, according to art.16 of the RTV Slovenia Law, to "address the comments and suggestions of viewers and listeners" and "give instructions to the director-general regarding changes that must be effected on channels.” [2]

Regulatory authorities

The media sector in Slovenia is mainly regulated by the Ministry for Culture and its Media Inspector and Directorate for Media. The implementation of the Media Law is monitored by the Ministry, while the Media Inspector instructs administrative proceedings to investigate breaches to the law, on its own initiative or based upon complaints received from the public.[2]

The Agency for Post and Electronic Communications of the Republic of Slovenia (APEK) and the Broadcasting Council (SRDF) are the regulatory bodies responsible for broadcasting and telecommunications. APEK ensures the implementation of the Law on Electronic Communications and checks that radio and TV stations comply with the programming guidelines and restrictions set by the Media Law. The Broadcasting Council, an independent body, instruct APEK to issue special licenses and checks that broadcasters comply with the license obligations. [2]

Media outlets

Print media

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The first magazine for women, Slovenka (meaning Slovenian Woman in English), was published in Slovenia in 1896.[4] During the 1960s the literary magazines played a significant role in Slovenia's liberalization.[5]

In 2004 there were nearly 1,000 printed media in Slovenia, including newspapers, magazines and journals.[6] In addition to local magazines, the Slovenian versions of foreign magazine titles, such as Playboy, Elle and Men’s Health, are also distributed in the country.[7]

The Slovenian media market saw very limited foreign investments after independence and liberalization. In the print press, no foreign owner was present until the 2000s, as the market was deemed saturated and solid. State-owned trusts still held shares in several media groups, with consequent political influences. After the 2004 elections, the company chairmen and editors in chief at the dailies Delo, Večer, and Primorske novice were changed after the managers of the state-controlled trusts were replaced by the new government, in a spillover of spoils system in the media sector. This did not happen again when the left came back to power in 2008, but the relations between media leadership and the economic-political elite continue to be turbolent during the following economic crisis years.[8]

The Slovenian press landscape include, first, nationally-oriented and -distributed publications, either daily or weekly; second, daily or weekly publications that are focused on a regional scale, though they may be nationally distributed too; and third, local newspapers, mostly weeklies or periodicals, with a strong community base but limited geographical distribution.[8]

In 2008, data on sold circulation put the total number of daily newspapers at 260,000 copies, with 1.17 million readers and 16.6 percent share of the gross advertising pie.[8] Among the top three dailies were the broadsheet Delo (readership 138,000) and the tabloid Slovenske novice (readership 342,000), both hold by the Delo d.d. company, which controls half of the readership for daily newspapers.[9] Žurnal24, a free press newspaper of the Austrian media company Styria Verlag, has a readership of 242,000.

Regional dailies includes Ljubljana-focused Dnevnik (125,000 readers), with the Sunday's Nedeljski dnevnik and the weekly tabloid Hopla; North-Eastern Maribor-based Večer (122,000) and South-Western Primorske novice (65,000), which share supplements. Dobro Jutro is a free weekly, regionally oriented (based in Maribor) but with nationwide distribution. [8]

Local newspapers and magazines, weeklies or bi-weeklies, include Kranj's bi-daily Gorenjski glas with a readership of 49,000; Novo mesto's weekly Dolenjski list, 45,000; Celje's weekly Novi tednik 44,000; Murska Sobota's weekly Vestnik, 59,000. Other local and thematic publications have even small reach, except the Catholic Church's weekly Družina (107,000 readers).[8]

Political magazines are another important share of the print press. Mladina (64,000 readers in 2009) leads this market sector since the mid-1980s, as a critical tribune. It was joined in the 1990s by the more right-wing oriented weekly Mag, being bought by Delo and turning more centrist after 2006/08. In 2008 a new right-wing magazine, Reporter, appeared on the market.[8]

The first foreign investors in the Slovenian print press market arrived in the 2000s, when the Swedish group Bonnier AG and its partner Dagens Industri relaunched the newspaper Finance. Then, the Austrian company Styria Verlag bought one fourth of the Ljubljana daily Dnevnik and published the free daily Žurnal (2003-07) and weekly Žurnal24 (2007-2014). The Austrian company Leykam also publishes the free weekly Dober Dan.[8]

Other foreign companies in the Slovenian media market include Burda, whose Adria media publishes various Slovenian versions of international magazines, such as Playboy, Elle, Lisa and Men’s Health, and the widespread tabloid Nova, with 99,000 readers. Delo Revije remains the main magazine publisher, with Lady, Jana, Obrazi, Anja, Smrklja, Eva, Modna Jana, Ambient and Stop, with an overall readership of beyond 748,000. Other international magazines that publish Slovenian versions include the men’s magazine FHM (48,000 readers), the National Geographic (154,000 readers), and the Reader’s Digest (78,000 readers).[8]

Publishing

The small market for book publishing in Slovenian language has made it difficult for publishers to achieve financial sustainability. In the 1990s book sales have been in slow but steady growth, with the highest income of 89.1 million euros in 1998. Yet, the 2000s showed a dramatic decline and crisis of the book publishing industry, due to lack of distribution in smaller towns and high taxation. Library readerships to the contrary increased. In mid-2000 print media companies such as Delo and Dnevnik started selling books as supplement to newspapers, to lure readers thanks to lower prices than in the main bookstores Mladinska knjiga and DZS.[8]

Radio broadcasting

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Slovenia has 7 nationwide radio stations, and several local and web-based ones. In 2008, 98 radio license holders were registered, of whom 11 were broadcasting via cable or internet only. Nationwide radio broadcasts are provided by the three main channels of Radio Slovenija (with an average daily reach of 200,000 in 2008), as well as by the non-profit radio station Radio Ognjišče, owned by the Slovenian Roman Catholic Church. Infonet, a network of 30 radio stations, declared a daily reach of about 430,000 in 2008.[10]

The whole of Slovenia together with all its population is covered by few radio stations, namely Radio Slovenija 1, Radio Slovenija 2, and Radio Slovenija 3. The largest coverage among private radio stations is that of the non-profit radio station Radio Ognjišče, owned by Slovenian Roman Catholic Church. Public radio stations have an important advantage regarding reach. Radio Slovenija reaches 2 more than 250,000 people every day, followed by Radio Slovenija 1 with a daily reach of about 200,000 people,at the same time, Infonet, a network of 30 radio stations, has according to its own estimates, a daily reach of about 430,000.

Radio Ljubljana went on air on 28 October 1928, marking the start of radio broadcasts in Slovenia, which remained controlled by the state both in the interwar and in the socialist perioda, when journalists were regarded as “socio-political workers”.[10]

After independence in 1991, Radio Ljubljana was turned into the national public broadcaster Radio Slovenija as part of RTV Slovenia. It remains mostly funded from license fees, coupled with advertising revenues. The public broadcaster includes 8 channels: Radio Slovenija 1, Radio Slovenija 2, Radio Slovenija 3, Radio Koper, Radio Maribor, Radio Capodistria for the Italian minority in Slovenia, Pomurski Madžarski Radio (MMR) for the Hungarian minority in Slovenia, and Radio Slovenia International. The Law requires RTV Slovenia, as a radio public broadcaster, to produce and broadcast a wide array of news, culture, education and entertainment content, and to pay special attention to the Slovene national minorities in the neighboring countries (in Italy, in Austria and in Hungary), to Italian and Hungarian minorities in Slovenia, and to the members of the Roma community.[10]

The liberalisation of the media opened up radio broadcasting to a host of private radio stations, of which 61 are commercial radio programmes, while 18 are non-profit, regional, local or student “radio programmes of special importance”, which receive state subsidies through open calls, besides advertising.[10]

The Slovenian radio panorama includes no foreign investors. According to the European Journalism Centre (EJC), the marked did not recover from a flawed privatisation process in the early 1990s, when multiple licenses were allocated based on personal relations rather than objective criteria. The newer, smaller radio stations only survived in an ovvercrowded market by joining wider networks, whose set-up was unsupervised. There are six radio “groups” in Slovenia, but only one can be regarded as a network according to the EJC. Infonet registered itself in 2002 as a network of 30 radio stations, half of which have shared ownership and half are "associate members". Infonet stations share technical services, musical section, program and advertising production sections, legal service and promotion departments, and are linked through programming, advertising and ownership, all of which can influence the programming concepts on the basis of which these radio stations acquired broadcasting licenses. The Ministry of Culture accepted at face value Infonet's declaration of fulfillment of the Media Act requirements. [10]

Radio and television broadcasters can form a network, if each member broadcasts only within the area for which its license was issued, produces at least two hours in-house programming per day, and acquires approval from the Agencija za pošto in ektronske komunikacije (APEK), the Post and Electronic Communications Agency, if its programming has changed as a consequence of networking, as stated in Art. 83 of the Media Act (Zakon o medijih).[10]

The Media Law also forbids cross-ownership of radio and television channels (art. 59). A radio or TV channel owner can control up to 20% of a newspaper and viceversa (art. 56). No limits are foreseen concerning cross-ownerships with magazines. TLC companies cannot own a radio or TV channel either (Pro Plus tried to obtain a radio license for years, but unsuccessfully, and also dropped its radio news production project 24ur – radijske novice after few years in 2004).[10]

Television broadcasting

Television in Slovenia was first introduced in 1958. Slovenia used the PAL standard until December 1, 2010 when analog broadcasting ceased. The first TV station in Slovenia was launched in 1958 as TV Ljubljana (now TV Slovenija). The first commercial (private) TV station, Kanal A was launched in 1991.

Experimental DVB-T broadcasts began in 2001 using the MPEG-2 standard. In 2007 the Slovenian government decided to test DVB-T transmission in Ljubljana using the MPEG-4 standard, following the approval of the APEK (Agency for Post and Telecommunications Republic of Slovenia). After that Radiotelevizija Slovenija had to determine which transmitter would be used for the 3-month test. They settled on the transmitters made by a Slovene company, Elti, who produces analog and digital TV transmitters. After the test, the RTV SLO decided to expand transmissions to TV SLO 2. In 2007, the RTV SLO launched a new channel: TV SLO 3 (a public affairs broadcast) to its digital offering. High-definition broadcast with AC-3 was experimented during the Beijing 2008 olympic games. The 2010 Winter Olympic Games were also broadcast in HD. Currently, there are two multiplexes operating, Mux A and Mux C. The operator of Mux A is Radiotelevizija Slovenija. Mux A is intended for public programs. Mux C started on October 14, 2013. The operator is Radiotelevizija Slovenija. Mux C is intended for commercial programs.

Cinema

A plaque commemorating first Slovene film recording made in 1905 by Karol Grossmann in Ljutomer

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Traditional cinema theatres in Slovenia are giving ground to multiplex cinema theatres, in Ljubljana and in the other main centres. Cinema admissions varied from 3.8 million in 1989 to 1.9 million in 1999 and 2.4 million in 2008. The biggest players are Kolosej - with 26 theatres and about 5,000 seats in Ljubljana, Maribor, Koper and Kranj - and Planet Tuš, with 18 theatres and 6,000 seats in Maribor, Celje, Novo mesto and Kranj (data 2008). The number of distributed audiovisual works in 2008 was of 654, of which 16.4% of Slovenian origin, 76.6 from the rest of the EU, and 7.0% from the United States. The DVD market displayed similar shares of origin.[1]

In Socialist Yugoslavia times, the national film producer Viba Film was the monopolist. After independence, Viba was disbanded and remained as a modern film studio, used for most Slovenian productions. Producers apply with their film projects to the national Film Fund, which decides which one to co-finance according to the Law on Slovenian Film Fund, sometimes with a majority of even full share of the movie budget. RTV Slovenia also co-produces or even produces movies. Other movies are produced and filmed without state subsidies; the Film Fund then enables their distribution in the theatres. The number of movies produced in Slovenia was of 45 in 2008. [1]

Telecommunications

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Slovenia has a 100,1% rate of mobile phone penetration as of 2009; the combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity is of roughly 150 telephones per 100 persons, or 1,5 phones per person. The country counts 17 AM radio stations and 63 FM stations, as well as 20 TV broadcast stations (2014).

The Slovenian TLC market features as main player the state-owned company Telekom Slovenije, which holds more than 75% of the revenues together with its daughter companies Mobitel and Siol. The fourth player is the private provider Si.mobil, overwhelmingly (92.2%) owned by the Austrian company Mobilkom. Mobile TLC providers hold almost half of market revenues.[1]

Internet

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The use of internet in Slovenia is widespread. In 2011, 73% households had Internet access, and 67% households had broadband. As of 2011, 29% of Slovenians have never used Internet.[11]

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without appropriate legal authority. The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights. However, the law prohibits hate speech, including incitement to intolerance as well as violence. The law provides criminal penalties for defamation that harms a person’s honor or name. The constitution and laws prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence and the government generally respects these prohibitions in practice. Individuals and groups freely engage in the expression of views via the Internet.[12]

The independent organization Helpline Spletno Oko (Web Eye) monitors the presence of hate speech and child pornography on the Internet and received on average 62 reports and tips per month in 2012.[12]

On 28 January 2010 the Slovenian National Assembly adopted changes to the law governing gambling. Under the law Internet service providers are responsible for blocking access to Internet gambling web sites that are not licensed by the Slovenian government.[13]


See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Marko Milosavljević and Igor Vobič, Slovenia, EJC Press Landscapes (circa 2009)
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Marko Milosavljević and Igor Vobič, Slovenia #National Media Policies, EJC Press Landscapes (circa 2009)
  3. the Slovenian government refused to accept any important changes, refused the opinion of the Council of Europe as “legally incorrect, wrong and politologically missed from the start”, while Karol Jakubowicz, the chairman of the Steering Committee on the Media and New Communications Services of the Council of Europe, who said that the draft law is “a catastrophe”, was labeled by Slovenian Ministry for Culture as “a third-rate public servant from Poland”.
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  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 Marko Milosavljević and Igor Vobič, Slovenia #Press, EJC Press Landscapes (circa 2009)
  9. Annual report of Nacionalna raziskava branosti 2009 (National Readership Research 2009)
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 Marko Milosavljević and Igor Vobič, Slovenia #Radio, EJC Press Landscapes (circa 2009)
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. 12.0 12.1 "Slovenia", Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 26 March 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  13. "Nesmiselna blokada spletnih stavnic" (Unreasonable seizure of betting), Blaz Petkovic and Katja Svenšek, Dnevnik.si, 1 March 2011 (English translation)

External links