Since the assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, many media in the country have been confronted with a wave of hatred. Journalists are held responsible for the atrocities and threatened. Media companies had to tighten their security measures.
“After the assassination attempt, we immediately received threats claiming that I was involved in Fico’s murder,” the editor-in-chief of the daily “Sme”, Beata Balogová, told APA. “I also have the same information from other editors.”
“Hate mail is cause for concern”
For example, the public broadcaster RTVS temporarily closed part of its building. Newspapers sent their employees from home. “For preventive security reasons, we have asked our colleagues to work from home, be vigilant and report any threat to us,” Balogová said. “We have no concrete information about possible physical attacks. But the hate mail is cause for concern.”
For years, politicians have called journalists enemies of the nation and “anti-Slovak prostitutes,” Balogová reported, citing a quote from Fico. He had already called some journalists “dirty anti-Slovak whores” in 2016 and added: “I stand by this expression.” In April this year, Fico again accused the media of spreading hatred against the government. “I’m just waiting for this frustration, so intensely fueled by (dailies and news portals, note) ‘Dennik N’, ‘Sme’ or ‘Aktuality’, to result in the assassination of a leading government politician. And I am not exaggerating at all,” Fico said a few weeks ago.
“Anti-government” broadcasts must be dismantled
But it wasn’t just criticism of the media. The government in Bratislava decided to dissolve the public broadcaster (RTVS), which was labeled anti-government by state authorities. The parliamentary debate on this was scheduled for Wednesday, the day of the attack. The vote to end RTVS was postponed after the murder.
“Political war” against “dirty pigs”
But the political attacks on the media continue. Official communications from Fico’s Smer SD party blamed the “liberal media” for the attack. Journalists radicalized people with claims that Fico wanted to turn Slovakia into an authoritarian regime. The leader of the co-ruling nationalist SNS party, Andrei Danko, described liberal journalists as “dirty pigs” and announced a “political war.”
Due to the tense situation, the media have taken the initiative to write a joint open letter. “We wanted to express our deep concern that hatred is a dominant force in society, and at the same time express our solidarity with Robert Fico,” Balogová explained. The statement was signed by more than 25 editors-in-chief in the country. “The assassination attempt on Robert Fico is an assassination attempt on all of us,” it says.
Source: Krone
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