Simkovicova: STVR Bill Creates New Public-service Broadcasting Institution

Dolna Krupa, April 24 (TASR) - The new law on Slovak Television and Radio (STVR) creates a new public broadcasting institution, said Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee) following the government session on Wednesday, at which the draft tabled by the Culture Ministry was approved. "The new name declares the unambiguous state-forming character of the public broadcaster," stated the minister, adding that the law respects the provisions of the adopted European Act on Freedom of the Media. "We've incorporated individual issues into the legislation," she said. In the context of the fundamental changes that the law introduces in the creation of television and radio bodies, she explained that the process of electing a new director will return to previous practice, when the heads of Slovak Television and Slovak Radio were elected in the environment of the council before the merger of the two institutions. In creating the new nine-member board, the minister highlighted that the Culture Ministry is the central government body in the field of the media. "It is therefore logical that it will enter into this process," she said. am/df