Christophe Deloire sends message to “March for Decent Slovakia”
The secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Christophe Deloire, sent a
message of support to the “March for Decent Slovakia,” whose participants paid tribute to
the investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová and called for an
end to political pressure on Slovakia’s public media. Kuciak and Kušnírová would have
married tomorrow (5 May) if they had not been murdered in February.
I came to Bratislava in early March to the very first march after Jan and Martina’s murder. I was deeply moved by the number of people that showed up to commemorate them. And since then, you showed up in even bigger numbers and you made the government resign.
Unfortunately, since then Slovak media have not become freer. Slovak journalists need you even more. The perpetrators of Jan and Martina’s murder have not been arrested, politicians and oligarchs continue suing reporters, they threaten them and the public media are under a growing political pressure.
As you know, in this year’s World Press Freedom Index Slovakia was ranked 27th, down 10 places compared to the previous edition. Our ranking based on data available until the end of the year did yet not take into account the murder that took place in February. It means that Slovakia’s ranking is worse because of other factors.
Yes, one of them is the threat to the editorial independence of the Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS). We have seen first signs of political pressure on RTVS at the end of last year.
I am very sorry that since then the situation in RTVS has all but improved. In mid-April, RSF openly criticized the RTVS management. Now, we are now trying to talk to them. We consider essential that the RTVS regains its total editorial independence and divests itself of political pressures. We believe the management should initiate a dialogue with critical journalists.
I still think the same that I thought in early March in Slovakia: Bratislava is the capital of the freedom of press. And it is your merit. You continue to protect the freedom of press. You make journalists proud of their vocation.
Slovakia
