[Digital News Report 2025 - Slovakia] Public Broadcaster's State Capture. Its Trust has Rapidly Declined

#DNR 2025 - SLOVAKIA: Main findings

The top media-related story in the first full year of the fourth Fico government was its attempt to capture Slovakia’s public service broadcaster. Meanwhile the intensity of verbal attacks on journalists working for traditional media brands by (mostly) government politicians rose another notch.

Here are some excerpts concerning Slovakia from the newly published 2025 Digital News Report, authored by Andrea Chlebcová Hečková (Constantine the Philosopher University, Nitra) and Simon Smith (Charles University, Prague):

#ON STATE CAPTURE OF THE PUBLIC MEDIA

A new law on Slovak Television and Radio (STVR) – as the national public broadcaster was rechristened – came into force in July 2024 in spite of protests by media workers from inside and outside the corporation and other sectors of society. The speed of the legislative process, the lack of public and expert discussion, the sacking of the previous director general, and above all the broadcaster’s exposure to significantly greater political control under the terms of the new law, were the principal sources of controversy. Now financed directly from the state budget, the absence of a specified annual allocation places the organisation in a relationship of severe dependency.
In spite of the haste with which the law went through parliament, its nine-member council was still incomplete nine months later, mainly due to disagreements within the government coalition and in parliament, which elects five council members. At the time of writing only the members appointed directly by Ministries of Finance (1) and Culture (3) were known. The Minister of Culture’s nominee, her right-hand man Lukáš Machala, aroused widespread concerns. Following the council’s suspension, in March 2025 STVR was temporarily being run by a government appointee.
One of the most striking programming changes since the organisational restructuring has been to the format of traditional weekend political debates, which have repeatedly featured the prime minister or the president speaking one-to-one with a presenter without any opposition representative. Other discussion programmes have effectively been depoliticised, focusing instead on philosophical or social issues.

#ON PRESSURE AGAINST PRIVATE MEDIA

After protesting live on air last May about management interference in editorial freedoms, presenter Michal Kovačič (the third most-followed Slovak journalist on Instagram according to figures compiled by the PR agency New School Communications) left the leading TV station Markíza to found an online TV channel, 360°. The new channel was launched on the anniversary of the November 1989 revolution after a successful crowdfunding campaign, which raised over €500,000 in September 2024.
Two other well-known TV presenters also established new online projects. Miroslav Frindt, one of many leading journalists who quit Slovak Television or Slovak Radio in reaction to the new public service broadcasting law, left to briefly front a Slovak version of the Czech internet TV channel DVTV, before announcing a new project to be called publiq.sk. Petr Bielik left TA3 to set up Bielik Online – a linear channel mixing news, current affairs, and music. Publiq.sk, like 360°, is set to concentrate on interviews. These ventures could offer politicians an alternative platform to the main TV channels and help combat the rising challenge from partisan media and social media platforms, predominantly on the populist right.
An International Press Institute fact-finding mission to Slovakia in November 2024 warned of the danger of media capture posed by the changes to the national broadcaster, and the use of economic pressure against independent media through the ‘weaponisation’ of state advertising. In light of the recent passage of the European Media Freedom Act, it identified Slovakia as ‘a crucial test case for the EU’s commitment to safeguarding democratic values and media independence across its member states’.

#ON JOURNALISTS' HARASSMENT

Threats and harassment against journalists increased by more than 50% compared with 2023, according to the Ján Kuciak Investigative Centre. Kristína Kövešová (Markíza), the most followed Slovak journalist on Instagram, was assaulted in Trnava while filming a report about gang-related violence.
At a press conference following the approval of the state budget on 3 December 2024, Prime Minister Robert Fico made one of his most direct attacks yet on the (mainstream) Slovak media, repeatedly accusing them of deceiving the public, and telling the public to stop believing the media. He was reacting to a series of reports claiming that the fractious relations within the governing coalition were preventing parliament from working properly.

#ON NEWS AVOIDANCE (Local vs National Media)

Although Slovaks have a lower-than-average interest in all kinds of news, they represent an outlier among countries covered by the Digital News Report in declaring a greater interest in local than national news. This is despite large swathes of the country being ‘local news deserts’, according to Transparency International. Social media and newspapers – which could include the newsletters published by many local councils – represent the most valued sources of local news.