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Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Fico’s government has shown on several occasions its disregard for press freedom. Not a single cent will go towards Ukraine’s future military funding, the prime minister declares. Two decades have passed since a murder in Bratislava that came to symbolise neo-Nazi violence in Slovakia.
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Journalism, according to Fico’s government
When media freedom organisation Reporters without Borders published its list of press freedom “predators” last week, they put the Slovak prime minister on it, citing social media attacks on the media sponsored by the ruling parties and partisan appointments to the public broadcaster and media regulatory body.
The Government Office, which is controlled by Fico, was quick to condemn the list as a “pseudoranking” and painted the picture of Fico as an advocate of press freedom throughout his long political career.
Even though the ranking appears too broad-ranging, putting Fico quite inappropriately alongside Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei and Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Slovakia’s prime minister is certainly no press freedom champion, nor are the people he chooses to be part of his government. We do not need to look beyond even the last seven days for evidence.
