FTF VSMU Academic Senate Outraged By Election of New STVR Director

Bratislava, May 13 (TASR) - The Academic Senate of the Film and Television Faculty (FTF) of the Academy of Performing Arts (VSMU) in Bratislava expressed outrage over the course of Monday’s (May 12) election of the new general director of the Slovak Television and Radio (STVR), criticizing the exclusion of the public and media from the hearings and the failure to publish the candidates’ CVs, which the senate views as a violation of transparency and principles of public oversight, TASR was told by Peter Gasparik from FTF VSMU on Tuesday. “We find it especially alarming that even students, who have long been engaged in cultural policy and dealing with public institution issues, were not allowed into the premises where the hearing took place. Their exclusion points to an unacceptable trend of institutions shutting themselves off from critical and civic perspectives. We therefore fully share the position of our student body, which took part in the protest ‘About us Without us’ during the STVR leadership election in front of the Slovak Radio’s headquarters,” the Senate stated. The academic institution is calling on the new leadership of STVR to clearly and fundamentally distance itself from political interference in the functioning of the broadcaster. According to the faculty, public service media must be independent from political power and transparent in decision-making processes. mf