Svenska PEN ställer sig bakom ett internationellt upprop signerat Slovenska PEN med anledning av den ekonomiska censur som drabbat nyhetsbyrån Slovenian Press Agency (STA), ett allvarligt hot mot press- och yttrandefriheten i Slovenien.

STA grundades 1991 i och med etablerandet av den Slovenska republiken och är en autonom källa för information om händelser i och utanför Slovenien. STA är finansierat genom public service, en inkomst som därmed också är reglerad i lag. Trots detta slutade den slovenska regeringen helt att finansiera byrån i början av året. STA står nu inför en finansiell kollaps och runt 100 oberoende journalister riskerar att förlora sina arbeten. Vidare påverkas det mediala landskapet i Slovenien som i och med denna ekonomiska censur förlorar en viktig källa för objektiv information.

Slovenska PEN fasar för att detta bara är ett första steg för regeringen att införliva oberoende medier under statlig kontroll och därmed kraftigt begränsa yttrandefriheten som en grundläggande demokratisk värdegrund i landet.

Extra oroväckande är att ett land som just nu är ordförandeland i EU på detta uppseendeväckande sätt sätter käppar i hjulet för saklig journalistik och motarbetar yttrandefriheten.

Läs hela uttalandet nedan.

SLOVENIAN PRESS AGENCY STA – VICTIM OF ECONOMIC CENSORSHIP

Since the beginning of the year, the Slovenian Government stopped financing the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) which was established in 1991 together with the Republic of Slovenia. Undoubtedly, STA is an autonomous and objective source of information about events in Slovenia and abroad. It is a public service and thus its financial public income is defined by the law. Nevertheless, the present Slovenian Government undertook to break the law and has not paid its dues since January 1st 2021. In spite of the spring crowdfunding campaign, STA is facing financial collapse and 100 independent journalists the loss of their jobs. Moreover, the media landscape of Slovenia will lose its most objective source of unbiased information due to economic censorship of the government.

We fear that the financial dismantling of STA is only the first step to bring the Slovenian independent media under government control and thus limit the freedom of speech as the basic democratic value in the Republic of Slovenia.

Therefore, Slovenian PEN once again calls upon Slovenian Government to:

· Pay its dues to the STA immediately,

· Resolve the conflicts with the management of STA in a democratic and peaceful manner in accordance with the law,

· Support and advocate the freedom of speech in Slovenia, which is its utmost duty in the light of presiding the Council of European Union.

We urge the international community to put pressure on Slovenian Government to act in accordance with democratic standards and with the law.

Freedom begins with the freedom of speech.

As Slovenian poet Boris A. Novak says, freedom is a verb!

Board of Slovenian PEN

Supported by:

Jennifer Clement, president of PEN International

Writers for Peace Committee, Chair Emmanuel Pierrat

French PEN, president Antoine Spire with board members: Sylvestre Clancier, Antoine Anderson, Linda Maria Baros, Jean le Boël, Malick Diarra, Colette Klein, Laurence Paton, Jean-Philippe Domecq, David Ferré, Thierry Mesny, and Philippe Pujas

PEN Vietnam, Lloyd Duong

PEN Romania, president Radu Vancu

Portuguese PEN, Teresa Cadete president 2009-2019, Vice-President of Writers for Peace Committee, Board Member of PEN International 2014-2017

PEN Center Swiss Romand

Board of the Swiss German PEN Center

Tienchi Liao-Martin, former president of Independen Chinese PEN Center and publisher of (https://sinoeurovoices.com/)

Montenegrin PEN

PEN Center of Bosnia & Herzegovina

Swedish PEN

Bild: University of Illinois Library, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons