KDH: Changes in RTVS Forcible Takeover of Broadcaster by Narrow Group of People

Bratislava, April 24 (TASR) - The approval of the Slovak Television and Radio (STVR) Act is a purposeful change driven by the desire to control the public media, the opposition Christian Democrats (KDH) said in response to the government's approval of a draft law bringing changes to public-service broadcaster Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS). "What is happening through this STVR law is a forcible takeover of TV and radio by a narrow group of people - but RTVS belongs to all of us. If the government feels the need and wants to improve the situation in RTVS, we don't need to scrap it and re-establish it, but to submit an amendment that will improve the environment of RTVS," stressed Jozef Hajko, a KDH MP and member of the parliamentary culture and media committee. He also claims that this move was the "last straw" and that the Christian Democrats will join the initiative to oust Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee). The government at its away-from-home session in Dolna Krupa (Trnava region) on Wednesday approved a draft law on STVR. The bill doesn't formally split the current RTVS, but changes the rules for the creation of television and radio bodies. The director general will be elected by a nine-member board, which will include four nominees of the Culture Ministry, while the remaining five will be elected by Parliament. On the effective date of the new law, the mandate of current director Lubos Machaj and the members of the RTVS council will expire. The name of the public broadcaster is also being changed, as the current one, according to the authors, has degraded the state-forming (Slovak) nation. am/mcs/ko