Category: Media freedom

Albania Govt Moves Again to Toughen Defamation Penalties

Posted on by BIRD

The Ministry of Justice in Albania on Thursday said it is working on changes to the penal code that include upping the fines to 4.5 million leks (36,000 euros) for defamation, and extending responsibility not only to journalists but also to editors and directors of media outlets and others.

The current penal code classes defamation as a misdemeanor punishable by fines of up to 3 million leks. It also obliges the claimant to prove that the defendant intentionally distributed untrue statements while being aware of the true fact.

The new rephrasing proposed by the ministry removes this important criterion while enlarging the scope of the provision to provide protection not only to individuals but also to institutions, while foreseeing heavier fines if the claimant is a state or political official.

“If this penal offence [defamation] is directed against a political body, an administrative or judicial body, or against a person who [is] representative of one of these bodies … the punishment is increased by 1/2,” the proposal reads.

“When this penal offence is committed through the printed press, responsibility is extended to the administrative director or, case by case, to the deputy director, to the publisher and the typographist in case they know about the penal fact.”

Speaking to Ora Television on Thursday, Prime Minister Edi Rama explained the rationale thus: “I wouldn’t mind if someone calls me a donkey, but if they call me a thief, that is a charge”.

Rama is in his eighth year as Prime Minister, and has repeatedly dodged allegations of corruption raised against his government or about the collaboration of his party with organised groups to pressure voters in elections. Claiming he is the victim of lies and fake news, he has attempted several times to create new legal tools against “defamation”.

In 2015, he personally proposed changes to the penal code introducing prison sentences for defamation charges against officials, after the opposition accused him of protecting organised crime groups from justice.

In 2016, his government proposed changes to the Electronic Commerce Law that ordered websites to “take down illegal content immediately” when someone claims their reputation has been infringed.

In 2018, his office proposed the creation of an administrative body to supervise the online media with power to order takedowns of news under the threat of hefty fines. According to Rama, the law was needed to “protect businessmen from media attacks”.

All these initiatives have failed to get through, however, following strong criticism by local and international rights organisations and institutions.

The latest change is also currently blocked in the parliament after the Venice Commission issued a highly critical report last summer, pointing out that the change could “block any critical remarks against public figures and/or suppress legitimate political debate on matters of public interests”.

The Council of Europe advisory body also emphasized that “oligarchs (multi-millionaires or billionaires who create or take over media empires to serve their business and / or political interests)” could make use of it.

Hungarian Media Expansion in Balkans Raises Worries but Lacks Impact

Posted on by BIRD

When Hungarian investors completed the purchase of the Slovenian state-controlled Planet TV for almost 5 million euros in October, it was the latest in a series of media takeovers in Slovenia and North Macedonia by Hungarian businessmen.

The Planet TV buyer, TV2 Média Csoport Zrt, was reportedly co-owned by Jozsef Vida, one of the wealthiest Hungarians, described as a member of the business circle around the ruling Hungarian party of Fidesz.

The Hungarian expansion started in 2017, when three companies from Budapest – Ridikul, Ripost and Modern Media Group – bought Slovenia’s Nova24TV. In 2018, Ripost and Modern Media Group left Nova24TV when two companies Hespereia and Okeanis became the new owners of their shares. Both companies were established on the same day in November 2018, by the same lawyer.

Among the owners of the Hungarian companies were Peter Schatz and Agnes Adamik, who later changed her name to Agnes Kovacs. They both previously worked for the Hungarian state broadcaster. Also involved was Arpad Habony, as a co-owner of Hungary’s Modern Media Group.

Ripost and Modern Media Group left Nova24TV when two companies Hespereia and Okeanis became the new owners of their shares. Both companies were established on the same day in November 2018, by the same lawyer. One of the companies, Hesperia, is owned by Agnes Kovacs. 

Nova24TV is co-owned by members of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), which is headed by the current premier, Janez Jansa, one of the main allies of Hungarian Prime Minister Orban in the EU. The investment was reportedly backed by Karoly Varga in 2016, a billionaire whose construction companies have been among the biggest winners of the public contracts handed out by the Hungarian government in recent years. 

Following that deal, Peter Schatz’s R-post-R acquired a majority share in Nova obzorja, the publisher of Demokracija, a political weekly co-owned by the SDS. 

 Macedonian charges made against Hungarians

Macedonian financial police have filed charges against Peter Schatz for tax evasion, BIRN has learned.

The financial police told BIRN Schatz made illegal gains for himself and his company CHS Invest Group, which is a majority owner of Alfa TV.
 “[Schatz] did not report revenues in the total amount of 11,959,475 denars (around 190,000 euros),” the police said.

According to the police, Schatz damaged the budget of North Macedonia to the tune of around 19,000 euros.
 
The investigation into money laundering against Schatz is still ongoing. In August last year, the financial police asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to freeze the money held by another Schatz company, Target Media Skopje, because of suspicion it was being used for the transfer of potentially dirty money from Slovenia and Hungary.

Despite those suspicions, and an official request, the money was not “frozen ”. “The legal entity Target Media is used only in order to transfer funds directly from foreign legal entities to Alfa TV,” the financial police said.

According to the police, the companies that were used for money transfers were Ripost Zaloznistvo from Ljubljana and Ripost Media in Hungary.

“[They] do not have any employees, their financing comes from sources of dubious origin, ie. there is a suspicion of a crime, abuse of official position and authority, and the funds transferred to the Republic of North Macedonia by these foreign entities are performed in order to conceal that they originate from a possible crime, using invoices for suspicious marketing services,” added the financial police.
 
Peter Schatz didn’t respond to BIRN’s request for comment.

Just as their media buying spree in Slovenia focused on outlets close to Jansa, Schatz’s and Adamik’s investments in North Macedonia have been aimed at those close to another of Orban’s political allies, the former prime minister Nikola Gruevski. 

Since 2017, Hungarian interests have taken over websites kurir.mk, denesen.mk and vistina.mk; First republika Dooel Skopje, which publishes the portal republika.mk; and the LD Press media Skopje, which publishes the portal netpress.com.mk. Hungarian interests also own the broadcaster Alfa TV.

The moves by these Hungarian investors who are close to the Fidesz party, which is hostile to independent media back home and has orchestrated the co-opting or killing off of critical media outlets there, has inevitably caused concern among some observers. 

Four members of the European Parliament – Kati Piri, Tanja Fajon, Tonino Picula and Andreas Schieder – submitted a list questions to the European Commission earlier this year about these Hungarian media investments and whether they represent Hungarian interference in the democratic process in the Balkans. 

On November 25, the European Parliament hosted a plenary debate, “Hungarian interference in the media in Slovenia and North Macedonia”, where Vera Jourova, vice-president of the European Commission, addressed those questions.

“Concerning North Macedonia,” Jourova said, “the Commission and the EU delegation are following the developments in the media sector in the country very closely. The Commission reports on these issues in its regular enlargement packages, including in its latest 2020 report on North Macedonia. This report assessed that greater transparency on media ownership and possible illegal media concentration is required.”

Kati Piri, a Hungarian-born Dutch politician and MEP, went further, claiming it was no surprise that Hungarian leaders, with Slovenian assistance, have put together an international interference operation that has poured millions of euros into pro-Jansa and pro-Gruevski media organisations. “[W]e all know very well that Orban’s outrageous propaganda efforts in North Macedonia and Slovenia are just the tip of the iceberg. Whether in Brussels, Ljubljana or in Skopje, Orban has only one goal: undermining the European Union for his own personal gain,” she stated.

Yet Balazs Hidveghi, an MEP for Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, refuted this, arguing that these companies have invested capital in the media of other member states purely for profit, in line with one of the most basic principles of the EU – the free movement of capital. “The same is true for North Macedonia: investments are private business matters for media companies, and they have nothing to do with politics,” Hidveghi insisted.

Viktor Orban leaves after the second day of the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, in July 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/JOHN THYS / POOL

The editor of the Hungarian-owned Demokracija magazine in Slovenia, Joze Biscak, backs this view, telling BIRN that Hungarian investors are “only here for the money”. 

Indeed, a BIRN investigation shows that while the competition struggles, Hungarian-owned media outlets in the region are flourishing. Their combined revenue in Slovenia and North Macedonia in 2018 was more than 10 million euros, according to data obtained by BIRN.

However, research commissioned by BIRN shows that the Hungarian investments are not having much of an impact. 

BIRN tasked the social media consultancy Bakamo with analysing the content engagement of Hungary-linked media in Slovenia and North Macedonia, and comparing it with other media. 

It found that the Hungary-linked media generate less engagement than their local counterparts on topics like the EU, Russia, China and Orban himself. The only two topics where the audience in North Macedonia engaged slightly more with Hungary-linked media outlets concerned stories related to migration and LGBT communities.

For three months, researchers at Bakamo observed content on websites linked to Hungarian-owned media outlets, identifying them as “Orban-media” (as opposed to “Non-Orban media”). The Orban-media included six Hungarian-owned media outlets in North Macedonia and three in Slovenia. In order to get a fuller picture, Bakamo included 18 additional news outlets in Slovenia founded and operated by SDS members that often share their content with the Hungarian-owned media outlets.

“Readers of Non-Orban media outlets аге more active on social media and engage with the content at а higher rate than Orban-media readers,” the analysis concluded.

According to the research, this means people in Slovenia and North Macedonia, as well as in Hungary, are less moved by what the media linked to Orban are telling them. “Higher engagement means that Non-Orban media articles receive more likes and shares on social media platforms,” the analysis said. 

It’s not for lack of trying, though. “Orban-media outlets produce a lot more content than Non-Orban ones. They act almost like spam in an attempt to build reach,” the research showed. 

The researchers focused on six key topics: migration, the EU, Russia, LGBT communities, China and Orban. On almost all topics, Orban-media outlets were underperforming in terms of driving a discourse, compared to media not linked to Orban.

The two topics where Orban-media outperformed their competition in North Macedonia were migration and LGBT. 

In Slovenia, on the other hand, while causing less engagement, Hungary-owned media outlets have produced much more heated conversations. “Orban-media readers are more emotionally charged,” the research concluded.

In the black

Viktor Orban (C) with Slovenia’s current Prime Minister and leader of the Slovenian Democratic Party, SDS, Janez Jansa (R), and SDS MEP, Milan Zver (R), attending a SDS campaign event in Celje, Slovenia, in May 2018. Photo: EPA

Despite the apparent lack of impact, Hungarian-owned media are still generating significant revenues. 

In 2018, according to available data, in North Macedonia, Hungarian-owned media companies posted revenues of more than 3 million euros, while in Slovenia that amount was around 7.3 million euros.

According to data from the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services, the profits of TV Alfa in 2017 were around 27,400 euros. In 2018, that had grown to almost 485,000 euros and in 2019 to almost 640,000 euros. The profits of TV Sitel – the most-watched station in North Macedonia – fell from 770,000 euros in 2017 to around 462,600 euros in 2019. 

The situation is similar with the Macedonian online portals that are owned by Hungarian investors: kurir.mk, denesen.mk and vistina.mk. The revenues of the parent company EM Media almost tripled in 2018 from 2017. 

The Hungarians also improved the financial results of Slovenian media companies. The revenues of NTV24 more than doubled from around 778,000 euros in 2017, to 1.76 million euros in 2019. By comparison, Planet TV, which at the time was still under Slovenian ownership with many more viewers than Nova24TV, made losses in the millions in 2018.

Similarly, revenues of Nova obzorja, the publisher of Demokracija, in 2018 reached their highest level in its 20-year history since Peter Schatz bought a majority stake in 2017. 

Joze Biscak, editor of Demokracija, told BIRN that those profits are the only thing that interests Hungarian investors. “If the balance sheets are in the black, they are happy. If they sink into the red, they are not,” Biscak stated.

He also defended his anti-immigration, anti-Muslim and anti-leftwing editorial decisions that create the heated discussions that Bakamo identified as merely a means “to sell magazines and clicks.” 

How to get ahead in advertising


The headquarters of the company which advertises olive oil in North Macedonia, Olivery Kft, in the Budapest suburb of Budaors. Photo: Anita Vorak

However, the sources of the money that keep those balance sheets in the black, at least in North Macedonia, remains questionable.

According to an earlier BIRN report, major advertisers in the Hungarian-owned media in North Macedonia included small Hungarian companies like Olivery, which sells olive oil; Bonyart, which sells home decorations; and Skin Delight, a cosmetics company. None of them actually sells anything in stores in North Macedonia.

The advertisement contracts that have resulted in the extraordinary financial gains in such a short period are now attracting the attention of the police in both Slovenia and North Macedonia. 

The Slovenian police confirmed that they opened an investigation into the financing of “certain media companies” in 2018. 

In addition, the previous Slovenian government appointed a special parliamentary commission to investigate allegations of suspected illegal Hungarian financing of SDS and illegal foreign financing of the SDS parliamentary election campaign in 2018. Those investigations were expected to bring some answers on how Hungarian money was being transferred to the Slovenian and Macedonian media, and how it was being used to finance the party-propaganda machinery. 

However, the new Slovenian government that took office in March – a coalition of Jansa’s SDS with the Modern Centre Party, New Slovenia and Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia – replaced the chairman of the parliamentary commission, which consequently hasn’t been particularly active this year. 

The Slovenian police confirmed to BIRN on November 23 that their investigation is ongoing, but said it could not comment further.

Serbian Journalists’ NGO Accuses Ruling MPs of ‘Lynching’ Critics

Posted on by BIRD

A media foundation named after a murdered journalist has accused MPs from the ruling party of creating a lynch-like atmosphere towards anyone who dares to criticise the government.

In the last week, several Serbian Progressive Party MPs during parliamentary sessions have attacked media outlets, actors and civil society activists, calling them, among other things, “anti-state” elements and “traitors”, and calling on some people to leave the country.

Slavko Curuvija Foundation, which bears the name of a famous Serbian journalist murdered in 1999, on Wednesday warned of the lynch-like atmosphere being created towards everyone who was critical of the regime.

“We are appalled by the daily abuse of the parliamentary rostrum, which launches shameless attacks on anyone who does not belong to the corps of ruling parties and their satellites: from opposition leaders, through independent regulatory bodies, civil society organisations and prominent artists, to doctors and journalists,” the Foundation said in a statement.

It emphasized that the new parliament, composed only of MPs from the ruling parties, instead of conducting its legislative role, was being used to attack anyone who thinks differently, warning that this could lead to physical violence.

“In a deeply polarised society, poisoned by … aggression in public discourse, we fear that such messages from parliament could be a prelude to direct physical confrontations with dissidents,” the Slavko Curuvija Foundation stressed, recalling that threats to independent journalists had been made almost on a weekly basis in recent months.

In the last few days numerous SNS MPs have called the media outlets N1 television and Nova S media portal “anti-state” elements, “anti-Serbian”, “traitors” and “foreign mercenaries”.

SNS MP Marko Atlagic also attacked the actress Seka Sablic after she gave an interview to the weekly NIN in which she criticized the government, saying that she “did not possess any patriotic feelings”. Atlagic also attacked another actor and director, Dragan Bjelogrlic, after he supported Sabljic, claiming that he should leave the country, as he allegedly threatened to do earlier.

Serbian media outlets and civil society organisations have long complained of being targeted by the government for their work. Most recently, they accused the government of trying to silence its critics after it emerged that a department of Serbia’s finance ministry, tasked with tackling money laundering and terrorism financing, had asked banks to hand over data about the transactions of dozens of individuals and NGOs known for their work on human rights, transparency and exposing corruption.

The move has been criticized also by international rights watchdog Amnesty International and by UN human rights experts.

Turkish Government is Tightening Media Censorship, Report Says

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

A new report, “Media Monitoring Report”, published by the Journalists’ Association of Turkey on November 12, says censorship of the media has increased and that online media platforms are becoming more targeted.

The report said that 83 journalists are currently being held in prisons and that 245 journalists are being tried by the courts.

It said censorship has increased rapidly, especially of online media platforms, since parliament adopted a new law on digital rights in July last year, and added that pressures and penalties on the media had intensified in the last few months.

“Media content will be easily removed under the new law, which became effective from October 1,” the report said.

It added that “AKP and MHP representatives who they have the majority on the Supreme Board of Radio and Television, RTUK, use the existing regulations as an arbitrary punishment tool [on independent media].”

[The Justice and Development Party, AKP, and the MHP, the Nationalist Movement Party, form the ruling coalition in Turkey.]

According to the report, the RTUK, the state agency for monitoring, regulating and sanctioning radio and television broadcasts, issued 90 penalties on independent media, including stopping broadcasting and administrative fines, between July and September this year alone.

“Digital media platforms are starting to be reached [by the state] as much as the mainstream media. As a matter of fact, it was seen that a single journalist’s column is shared on social media platforms more than a mainstream newspaper’s total circulation in a three-month period,” the report wrote.

The report underlined that workers on online media institutions face many other difficulties.

“Internet journalists are classified in the office workers sector, not in the journalism sector. In other words, they are not recognised as journalists by the government,” the report noted, adding that because of this, journalists on online media are not entitled to official press cards.

“As a result, internet journalist cannot follow the news at state institutions or face the risk of arrest when they follow street protests,” it warned.

It also observed that many journalists face financial hardship as a result of the pandemic while the level of union membership among Turkish journalist is still very low, at only 7.88 per cent.

“Following the end of government’s ban on firing employees during the pandemic, it is presumed that the number of the unemployed journalists will increase,” the report said and added that many journalists are forced to take unpaid leave.

Serbia ‘Still Investigating’ Police Attacks on Journalists at Protests

Posted on by BIRD

The Serbian Interior Ministry said in a letter to the Council of Europe’s Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists that it has not yet identified who attacked journalists from N1 TV, the Nova news website and Beta news agency during protests in the capital Belgrade in July.

“Concerning the allegations about the attempt to prevent N1 TV crew and journalist Jelena Zoric from reporting and inflicting injuries to a journalist of Nova portal, we would like to inform that the Sector for Internal Control of the Ministry of the Interior is working on collection information as requested by the competent prosecutor’s office,” said the letter that was sent on October 19 and made public on Monday.

The ministry said that police investigated “allegations related to events of 8 July 2020 (injuries inflicted to Nova portal journalist Marko Radonjic and attack on Nova portal journalists Milica Bozinovic and Natasa Latkovic)” and “established that they were not reported or recorded following the procedure prescribed by the law, and that no further actions were taken”.

“Regarding the injuries inflicted to Beta News Agency journalist, Zikica Stevanovic, we would like to inform that a report on this event was submitted to the competent prosecutor’s office in Belgrade, as well as that additional measures have been taken to identify the perpetrator of this criminal offence,” the letter added.

The protests erupted in July in Belgrade and other cities after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that a curfew would be reimposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Protesters clashed with riot police, who used tear gas and cavalry. BIRN mapped major violent incidents that occurred in first two days of protests.

Several journalists were on the receiving end of attacks from both police and protesters.

Some of them, like Stevanovic from Beta, claimed they identified themselves as journalists and showed identity documents to police, but that did not stop officers beating them. Domestic and international journalists’ organisations urged the authorities to find the perpetrators.

According to the Interior Ministry’s letter, police have found the people who attacked journalists from public broadcasters Radio Television of Vojvodina in and Radio Television of Serbia in the cities of Novi Sad and Nis.

In Novi Sad, police filed criminal charges against two people who participated in breaking glass in the front door of the Radio Television of Vojvodina offices, and caught the person who attacked Radio Television of Serbia journalists Milan Srdic and cameraman Lazar Vukadinovic.

In Nis, the ministry said that Radio Television of Serbia journalist Lidija Georgijeva and cameraman Ivan Stambolic had decided not to file a complaint.

Pandemic Pushes Slovakia to Finally Target Disinformation

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

Standing on the blue-backed stage of the Globsec Forum in Bratislava on October 7, wearing an elegant black mask coordinated with her dress, Slovak President Zuzana Caputova addressed the main challenges that the pandemic poses to the world and the rule of law.

“It has exposed the real capacities and limitations of our crisis management, which has rested in peace for years,” she said. “Once again, we have seen that the spread of disinformation and hoaxes can be deadly,” she added, pinpointing one of the most pressing issues for her country.

Slovakia has been battling hybrid threats and disinformation for years, with most of the fighting falling on the shoulders of non-governmental activists and information and security experts. This year, however, the destructive power of disinformation manifested itself palpably for the first time.

“Slovakia is not doing a very good job in battling the pandemic at the moment,” admitted Marek Krajci, the Slovak health minister, on October 9, explaining the ever-growing numbers of new COVID-19 cases in the country. “I think the huge disinformation campaign is reflected in the bad results that we’re seeing right now.”

Another major manifestation of the frustration and anger caused by disinformation about COVID was witnessed at the weekend, when hundreds of people joined an unannounced and illegal protest in Bratislava, organised by football hooligans and neo-Nazi groups. Attacking the iron gate of the governmental office compound, they chanted vulgar slogans about the prime minister, threw stones at the police and called for people to ignore the new restrictive measures designed to combat the virus.

While during the first wave of the pandemic Slovakia saw itself as a “winner” of the crisis, largely thanks to the responsible behaviour of the general public, strict early measures and obligatory masks, this autumn has brought a much stronger second wave than the country feared.

According to opinion polls, people in Slovakia are unsure what information about coronavirus they can trust, support for government-mandated restrictive measures has decreased significantly and, ultimately, so has their trust in government leaders.

“It would be easy to blame the media or education systems or the internet for the erosion of citizens’ confidence, but do political leaders today project trust?” President Caputova asked rhetorically at Globsec, opening an important question for her own country, too.

Slovak President Zuzana Caputova gives the opening address at the Globsec Bratislava Forum 2020. Photo: Globsec

A good start, but a long way to go

The new Slovak government that came into office in March defined countering disinformation and hybrid threats as one of its main goals for the next four years. In its manifesto, Igor Matovic‘s government named the fight against disinformation as a priority in foreign politics, defence, education and the media.

“The spreading of disinformation and hoaxes endangers the development of a knowledge-based society,” said the program of the new government. “The Government of SR will prepare an action plan for coordinating the fight against hybrid threats and spreading of disinformation, and build adequate centralised capacities to carry it out.”

Almost seven months later, this “action plan” is still a work in progress, the coordination centre is nowhere to be seen and the disinformation agenda is scattered among a few ministries, with no clear unified strategy in place.

“The first key thing that happened is that this theme has finally been addressed politically, and it is being given the proper attention,” Daniel Milo, an analyst at the Globsec Policy Institute, told BIRN.

“In previous years, there were some lonely fighters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or in the police, but there was no systematic support,” he said, adding that while it was good the new cabinet set as an official goal in its program the targeting of disinformation, it has yet to result in any concrete action.

One of the more visible efforts came this summer, when the Health Ministry hired Jakub Goda, a leading journalist focusing on disinformation, to help with its strategic communications. Reacting to the growing “infodemic” surrounding the coronavirus, the ministry is starting to focus on debunking hoaxes and sharing verified information from medical experts via social networks. “In the middle of the pandemic, the urgency of this problem became even clearer,” said Goda in an interview with BIRN earlier this month.

The Health Ministry prepared a short guide on how to see through disinformation about COVID-19, joined an information campaign by public broadcaster RTVS in which a leading expert on infectious diseases talked about the safety of wearing face masks, and recorded a video with COVID-19 patients sharing their personal experiences with the virus.

While the video registered an admirable 600,000 views with over 3,300 shares by October 19, the most viral posts from extremist politicians questioning the coronavirus crisis have been watched several times more, thanks to a developed network of dozens of Slovak Facebook pages that spread disinformation on a regular basis. The fight against disinformation by the Health Ministry is far from over, said Goda, adding that the ministry has already expanded capacities and more people should be hired soon.

Although Goda’s work at the ministry is essential, it is only a first step, experts think. “It is a good step, but to think that a single person will save the strategic communications of a whole ministry in such a big topic is naive,” said Milo.

“Jakub has dealt with these topics for years and I value him as a colleague, but this alone doesn’t stand a chance in stopping the enormous avalanche of lies about COVID-19 that are shared online and on social networks every day,” he explained. “However, he can do his part and maybe he can convince the management at the ministry that the communication and information part is just as important today as the medical measures.”

Another visible and popular vehicle for combatting disinformation is the Slovak police force’s Facebook page dedicated specifically to uncovering hoaxes. During the pandemic, police experts have debunked dozens of lies and manipulative posts about the virus, sharing the verified information with its 85,000 followers. Its most popular videos debunking lies about COVID-19 testing sites or the government preparing a tough lockdown were viewed by between 100,00 and 200,000 people each.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Slovakia is growing exponentially, data shows. Photo: Office of the Government of SR

Saving democracy

Over the past few years, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs has taken the lead in combatting disinformation in Slovakia, focusing on developing strategic communications with the public. This year it opened a new department to counter hybrid threats and “enforce resilience” in the system.

“We have basically provoked more government activity in this area,” said Imrich Babic, head of the strategic communications department at the Slovak Foreign Ministry. “Now, there is big hope that it becomes more systematic. It is in the legislative plans of different ministries already, so it’s on a good path.”

The Foreign Ministry, it seems, might be the one part of government where most people, including political leaders, understand the importance of having clear and unambiguous messages in communication. Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok, the former Slovak ambassador to Washington and Brussels, said in his first press conference in March that there is no doubt about Slovakia’s place in Europe and in the world: its allies are in the West, and its aim is to protect European values and unity.

“It’s a question of strategic importance, of protecting a healthy democracy,” said Marcel Pesko, the special ambassador who is heading up the hybrid threats department at the Foreign Ministry.

“Slovakia is very vulnerable in this sense,” he added, explaining that he thinks it’s due to the combination of history, political communication and the fragile democratic heritage. “Based on all of this, Slovaks are more prone to trusting disinformation.”

Experts at the ministry agree that Slovakia needs to significantly step up its fight against hybrid threats. And that means adopting the “whole of society” approach: reforming the education curriculum, pushing for more control of social networks and forming a centralised coordination mechanism within government. “The process has already started; we just need to frame it now. We would like to create the coordination mechanism by the end of the year,” Pesko told BIRN.

The proposed mechanism should create a system for dealing with hybrid threats, which includes all the ministries as well as other government offices. Its precise form, however, has yet to be decided.

In the meantime, the Foreign Ministry is organising educational programs at universities and schools; setting up workshops for Slovak diplomats and ministry employees; coordinating their policies and communication in strategic areas; and fighting disinformation online, in the media and through direct communication from political leaders.

Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok speaks at a press conference after a government meeting. Photo: Office of the Government of SR

Addressing security threats

Even before COVID-19 spread across Europe, Slovakia had been the target of propaganda campaigns by Russia and China, including various forms of hybrid warfare, according to the Slovak intelligence services.

In August, Slovakia became the 28th EU state to join the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats in Helsinki and the Slovak Defence Ministry has become one of the leaders of the fight against disinformation within the new government.

“The Defence Ministry wants to be active in this area,” Martina Koval Kakascikova, spokeswoman for the ministry, told BIRN. “One of the reasons is that hybrid threats will become a significant part of military operations in the future.”

In October, the ministry hired a special advisor for dealing with hybrid threats, and the communications department has taken on an even bigger role debunking disinformation and hoaxes, too.

“Moreover, the pandemic has reinforced the disinformation narratives, so the Defence Ministry has intensified its strategic communications, whether on social networks or in the field,” said Koval Kakascikova. “We also think exchanging information and experiences in the area of combatting hybrid threats and disinformation with our partners is essential.”

Although public communication from leading politicians in the previous government could be described as chaotic or conflicting at best, there is some evidence that the activities of the individual experts at the foreign and defence ministries has bolstered public support for Slovakia’s membership of NATO and the EU over the past three years. While in 2017 only 43% of Slovaks supported NATO membership, by 2019 that support had grown to 56%, according to a Globsec Trends survey. Eurobarometer, which monitors the evolution of public opinion in all EU member states, confirmed that a steady majority of Slovaks still supports the EU. Trust in liberal democracy and Slovakia’s Western allies, particularly the US, remains a challenge, however.

An additional challenge will come later this month after the Slovak government announced its intention to carry out a mass testing program across the entire country, with the aim of becoming the first country in Europe to pull off such a feat.

Disinformation experts have already warned that anti-COVID and anti-health system campaigns will definitely take off, putting an extra strain on the government’s efforts in trying to persuade people about the benefits of general testing. “In the next two weeks, so-called agitprop will take over – a fast drumming, the more absurd the better,” predicted Infosecurity.sk. “There’s nothing to lose. People are ready to listen.”

To counter this threat effectively, Marcel Pesko, the person heading up the hybrid threats department at the Foreign Ministry, admitted that, “there is still a lot of work to do in this area.”

Although all government experts agree that activists and NGOs have, until now, done a good job in fighting disinformation, they say it’s time the state picks up the baton. “The role of the state can’t be replaced by NGOs or the media,” said Pesko. “It is important to have political will to deal with these topics. And I can see that now.”

Kosovo Leaders Condemn Gun Attack on Journalist’s Car

Posted on by BIRD

Kosovo civil society and politicians, including the Prime Minister and a former prime minister, have united in condemnation of an attack on a investigative journalist whose car was raked with gunfire on Sunday night just after he parked it.

Shkumbin Kajtazi, from the media outlet Reporteri, said his car “was shot with five or six bullets” at around midnight, after he had parked it in the centre of the northern divided town of Mitrovica, and when he heard shots fired.

“When I approached the place where I had parked, I saw that the car was badly damaged. At first I was convinced it had been hit by something strong, but then I spotted bullet holes and bullets everywhere: in the driver’s seat, on the roof and in the back,” Kajtazi wrote on his Facebook account.

Kajtazi said he had notified the police and attributed the violent attack to his work as an investigative journalist.
Civil society activists, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, AJK, leading politicians and also citizens took to social media to condemn the attack.

Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti on Facebook on Sunday urged “law enforcement agencies to treat Shkumbin’s case with high priority and clarify the circumstances of the attack”.

“Freedom of media and expression are guaranteed by law and will be protected in every circumstance,” Hoti added, declaring that “attacks on journalists and the media are direct attacks on democratic values, and therefore will be treated with priority by law enforcement agencies”.

Former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, leader of a junior coalition partner in government, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, shared a photo of Kajtazi on his Facebook account on Sunday evening, slating the attack.

“Freedom is not complete without the freedom of speech,” Haradinaj wrote, adding that this was the second attack on Kajtazi “after constant threats against him”.

Deeming the attack “bad news for our country”, Haradinaj urged the justice authorities to prioritize the protection of journalists, “especially investigative ones”.

The Association of  Journalists of Kosovo, AJK, noted in a press release on Sunday that the police had confirmed starting an investigation. The Mitrovica Region police spokesperson, Avni Zahiti, had told the AJK that “a case has been initiated and is being investigated … At the scene in the damaged vehicle, four bullet shells have been found. There is no data on injured persons”.

Mitrovica Mayor Agim Bahtiri also condemned the act, as did different members of the opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and the Vetevendosje party, civil society activists and citizens.

Montenegrin Broadcaster Torn by Accusations of Sabotage and Political Interference

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

The management of Montenegro’s public broadcaster, RTCG, on Thursday accused members of the managing council and some editors of compromising editorial policy and working for the interests of former opposition parties that now form the new majority in parliament.

It accused the two NGO representatives on the nine-member council, Bojana Jokic and Milan Radovic, of deliberately sabotaging production and of helping the former opposition blocs to win the August 30 parliamentary elections. Jokic and Radovic represent civil society on the council.

“Internal pressure increased from party sleepers, who were ordered to sabotage the programme and compromise the editorial policy of RTCG. Council members Milan Radovic and Bojana Jokic are assisting them with the goal of the parliamentary majority taking over the public service as soon as possible,” a press release said.

The fiery response came after Jokic and Radovic on Thursday accused RTCG management of exerting unacceptable political pressure, after two editors were dismissed for disagreeing with the  broadcaster’s editorial policy.

Editor Bojan Terzic said he was quitting because of the hostile way the broadcaster covered the issue of the Serbian Orthodox Church – a hot and divisive topic in the recent elections.

RTCG management also replaced another editor, Zoran Lekovic, after he also accused it on Facebook of unprofessionalism and of religious and national intolerance.

On Thursday, Jokic and Radovic called on the management to resign. “Freedom of expression of journalists must not be endangered. Pressure on journalists has increased so we call on the management to resign, and on journalists to self-organise”, Radovic said.

The parties that form the new majority on parliament have long accused RTCG as acting as a mouthpiece for the ousted Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS.

A battle over the future direction of the broadcaster was therefore inevitable after three opposition blocs won a slender majority of 41 of the 81 seats in parliament on August 30, ousting the long-ruling DPS.

In its 2020 progress report on Montenegro, the European Commission expressed “serious concern” about “continued political interference” in the work of the broadcaster.

Earlier, in 2018, the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders noted the replacement of several key managers at RTCG with supporters of the DPS.

The appointment of new management in March 2017 that tried to distance itself from the ruling party and produce more balanced content created hope that things would change – but civil society organisations and the opposition have since said that those initial gains were rapidly lost.

After sacking two members of the managing council, drawn from the ranks of civil society, citing alleged conflicts of interest, in March 2018 parliament appointed successors who were seen as closer to the then ruling coalition.

Montenegro Jail Sentence for Investigative Journalist Condemned as ‘Kafkaesque’

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

Press freedom advocates on Thursday condemned a High Court ruling in Montenegro that sentenced the well-known investigative journalist Jovo Martinovic to a year in prison for drug trafficking.

In a second-instance verdict, the prominent journalist was found guilty of mediation in drug trafficking. He was acquitted of charges of organised crime activity.

As Martinovic already spent 15 months behind bars in pre-trial detention from 2015 to 2017, he will not go back to prison, however.

After the verdict was issued, Martinovic – who has worked as a contributing reporter for respected international media including The Economist, Newsday, The Global Post and The Financial Times as well as BIRN – told BIRN he had expected a conviction.

“The court refused to take into account all the evidence in my favour during the entire procedure, and most importantly refused to acknowledge that I was on a journalistic assignment that day [of his arrest], which the witnesses confirmed,” Martinovic said.

The international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, RSF, said it was black day for press freedom, adding that Martinovic had been convicted despite a clear lack of evidence.

“RSF will continue supporting the journalist. This kafkaesque judicial prosecution lasting five years has to come to an end,” RSF said.

Martinovic was arrested in October 2015 alongside 17 others from Montenegro in a joint police operation conducted with Croatian police. He spent almost a year-and-a-half in custody before being released in January 2017 ahead of the trial.

In January 2019, in a first-instance ruling, a court jailed him for 18 months for drug trafficking and membership of a criminal organisation. But the Appeal Court in October that year overturned the verdict. As a result, a retrial was ordered.

The journalist always insisted he had made contacts with alleged drug traffickers only as part of his legitimate reporting work.

Many media unions and rights groups agreed, describing the case and the verdicts as a serious blow to journalism and freedom of expression and called for his acquittal.

As BIRN reported previously, Martinovic made contacts with two of the 17 suspects arrested in 2015: Dusko Martinovic – no relation to the journalist – and Namik Selmanovic.

Dusko Martinovic, the main suspect in the case, was also a convicted member of a gang of jewel thieves known as the so-called “Pink Panthers”. Operating in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, they are believed to have stolen hundreds of millions of euros’ worth of jewellery. Martinovic worked with him on a series of TV shows about the robbers produced by Vice media group.

He worked alongside Selmanovic when a French production company, CAPA Presse, hired them to contribute to research on a documentary about weapons smuggling.

Dusko Martinovic was sentenced to six years and three months in prison in January 2019. Selmanovic has turned state’s evidence.

Brussels Greenlights Contentious Media Sale in Central Europe

Posted on by Ivana Jeremic

The European Commission on Wednesday approved the sale of Central European Media Enterprises, CME, to the PPF Group conglomerate, whose owner, the Czech Republic’s richest businessman, Peter Kellner, has been accused of acting as a proxy for China.

The CME, majority owned by AT&T, operates 30 television channels in five Central and East European markets.

Civil society groups earlier warned that the sale could boost China’s influence on the TV sector in Central and Eastern European countries where both groups are present. Concerns have also been raised over potential market concentration.

The EU executive body dismissed these objections, however. “Based on its market investigation, the Commission found that the transaction, as notified, would not impact the companies’ position in these markets,” a statement on its website said. 

“PPF and CME are both active in the acquisition of sports broadcasting rights in Czechia and Slovakia and in the sale of advertising space in Czechia,” the statement added. “In parallel, the two companies are active at different levels of the TV value chain,” it continued.

“CME is mainly active as a wholesale supplier of TV channels in a number of Member States, while PPF offers retail audio-visual and telecommunications services in Bulgaria, Czechia and Slovakia,” it asserted.

These elements pose no real risk to fair competition, the Commission went on, as “the companies generally do not compete for the acquisition of the same sports rights and the transaction would only lead to a limited increase in PPF’s existing share of the market.

“Similarly, PPF’s activities represent a negligible share and would not add significantly to CME’s position in the market for the sale of advertising space in Czechia.”

The sale will give Kellner’s group control over leading private television stations now owned by CME in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. CME’s main channel in Slovakia, Markiza TV, is widely considered a rare independent television station in the country.

PPF has already interests in the audiovisual and telecommunications sectors in some of these countries.

The deal was signed in October last year. A PPF representative said on Wednesday that the group expected the purchase to be finalised on October 13.

Last February, US Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a known China hawk, urged the US authorities to launch “a full review of the national security implications” of the sale.

Rubio insisted that the deal would advance “the Chinese Communist Party’s political interference” in the countries where CME operates.

If the sale to PPF went ahead, Rubio observed, Kellner’s group would control of channels with a massive audience of 97 million people only in Romania and Bulgaria, where CME owns rating market leaders Pro TV and b1.

China in July announced retaliatory sanctions on Rubio, fellow Republican Senator Ted Cruz and other US officials for their harsh criticism of its policies.

Kellner has often been accused of serving China’s interests in Czechia, where his PPF group has its base. These services are said to include whitewashing Beijing’s record through a paid propaganda campaign in the Czech media.

BIRD Community

Are you a professional journalist or a media worker looking for an easily searchable and comprehensive database and interested in safely (re)connecting with more than thousands of colleagues from Southeastern and Central Europe?

We created BIRD Community, a place where you can have it all!

Join Now