Culture Ministry Concurred with Jourova On Need to Strengthen Public Media

Bratislava, April 25 (TASR) - The standing of public institutions in Europe must be strengthened and extending that support to public broadcasters is particularly important in light of their unique character on the media market, representatives of the Culture Ministry and European Commission Vice-president for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova concurred at their meeting on Thursday. TASR learnt the news from Culture Ministry's press department director Petra Bacinska on the same day. Jourova asked for explanations regarding several issues surrounding the creation of the inchoate Slovak Television and Radio. She inquired about the makeup of the new supervisory Council, details of how the Ethics Committee will operate and whether the aim of the new bill is to replace the current Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) management. Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova (SNS nominee) assured the European Commissioner that all changes will be taken in full compliance with the Slovak and European legislation. "When drafting the final form of the bill, the Culture Ministry took into account a large number of objections and suggestions from many entities, including opposition politicians. In total, there were 327 of them," said Simkovicova. Jourova assured representatives of the Culture Ministry that the European Commission doesn't interfere with personnel changes in public institutions' posts of the EU member countries. However, she voiced concerns with respect to the fight against disinformation because public broadcasters have their duties in this sphere as well. "The people have a right to express themselves freely and subjectively but the public institutions have a duty to correct subjective statements," noted Jourova. mf/mcs