MPs with recommendations to government on minority media
Ljubljana, 16 May - The parliamentary Commission for the National Communities discussed on Thursday the operations of media outlets serving the Italian and Hungarian minorities, and addressed recommendations to the government regarding programming and funding.
Ljubljana
RTV Slovenija logo.
Photo: Nik Jevšnik/STA
File photo
The commission would have the Culture Ministry study the possibility for government funding of minority programming when drafting changes to the RTV Slovenija Act, which regulates the RTV Slovenija national radio and TV broadcaster.
When drafting the Media Act, the ministry should also consider the possibility of regulating the legal status of the institute for informative activities of the Hungarian minority. It should consider increasing their salaries so they are comparable to the salaries of employees in public institutions in the media and informing.
The government should also speed up the implementation of the agreements of cooperation with both minority MPs, the commission said.
The commission also recommended the government make an agreement with the Croatian and Italian governments to establish the regional Koper-Capodistria radio and television centre as a central medium, which would inform the Italian minority in Slovenia and Croatia and the Slovenian minority in Italy and Croatia.
RTV Slovenija management board chair Zvezdan Martić said that the financial situation is difficult and that this year the public broadcaster had to reduce all programmes, except for programmes for people with disabilities and for minorities.
Without additional government funding, amounting to EUR 5 million last year and EUR 10 million this year, RTV would be in an "unbearable situation", said Martić, adding that a stable solution is needed to bridge the growing gap between legal requirements and available resources.