The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the world’s foremost alliance of public service media, representing over a hundred organizations worldwide, has published a statement regarding the planned changes for the local public broadcaster in Slovakia which the government announced this week.

“We are very concerned that the Slovak government has approved a new draft law that effectively replaces a respected public service broadcaster RTVS and could threaten the independence of public service media. Such threats risk undermining democracy, access to impartial news and public debate in hashtagSlovakia.
We will monitor closely the application of the changes made in the law and continue to campaign publicly and vocally if we see the independence of public service media undermined in Slovakia.

We urge the Slovak authorities to respect press freedom and uphold the principles enshrined in the new European Media Freedom Act. It is imperative that public broadcasters remain free from political interference, serving the public interest and helping foster informed communities.”