FOURTH ESTATE MALAISE: A YEAR UNDER THE PRESS LAW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRATISLAVA 000176

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/PPD S. KORMAN, FOR EUR/CE K. ERTAS AND J. LAMORE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/16/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV LO
SUBJECT: FOURTH ESTATE MALAISE: A YEAR UNDER THE PRESS LAW

REF: A. 08 BRATISLAVA 164

B. BRATISLAVA 47

C. BRATISLAVA 160

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. Keith A. Eddins, reasons 1.4 (b/
d)


1. (U) Introduction and Summary: A year has passed since the
Slovak parliament approved a controversial press law that was
decried by opposition politicians and international observers
as a threat to media freedom (ref A). Of most concern to the
law's critics was the broadly formulated "right of reply"
provision. Under this clause, anyone can request that a
print media outlet publish a response to an article which
they deem damaging, regardless of the original article's
veracity.


2. (SBU) We have met recently with a number of Slovakia's
leading editors-in-chief and media experts to assess the
effects of the press law. Most agreed the greatest impact
has been the administrative and legal burdens associated with
the review of right to reply requests. And while most
editors do not believe the law has increased self-censorship,
they shared growing concerns about other developments in the
media sphere. Most notable have been a rash of high-value
libel awards -- mainly to judges and politicians -- against
media outlets, and ever-sharper governmental attacks against
journalists and journalism. The libel awards pose a threat
to the media's financial bottom line, while the governmental
broadsides, e.g. a recent threat by PM Fico that the Slovak
Security Council might take action against the press, have
undermined press morale, and the media's reputation. End
Introduction/Summary.

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The Law and its (in)effect
--------------


3. (SBU) Matus Kostolny, Editor-in-Chief of the daily SME,
told us that it is still too early to assess the full impact
of the press law. Kostolny said that he typically receives
at least one request for reply per week, but has not
published any of them. Kostolny said that in some cases
where there were factual errors in the original article, SME
-- in line with a long-standing editorial policy -- has
printed a correction. However, he said most of the requests
were technically incorrect, and were thus discarded.
Nevertheless, Kostolny said SME's legal fees have risen
drastically, as he personally consults with SME's legal
counsel on a weekly basis on the requests. He said he does
not believe that journalists are engaging in self-censorship,
but added that he edits more carefully than before the law
came into effect.


4. (SBU) Petr Sabata, Editor-in-Chief of the daily Pravda,
said that he has received over 100 requests for correction in
the past year. Of these, Sabata estimates that 80-90 percent
are also technically incorrect (including a request from the
law's drafter, the Ministry of Culture),and were thus
refused. The 10-20 percent that were not refused were either
published, otherwise resolved with the requester, or resulted
in a correction to the original article. Sabata said that he
personally deals with the request for reply on a daily basis,
but he has not noticed an impact on advertising or reporting.
He also noted that after the law was passed, Pravda
conducted a training for journalists focusing on
investigative journalism.


5. (SBU) Milos Nemecek, President of the Slovak Publisher's
Association, which represents 96 percent of the country's
newspapers and 85 percent of its magazines, told us that they
have been actively training lawyers for media outlets across
the country on how to interpret right to reply requests. He
also said that according to an analysis that the Association
performed, the daily Hospodarske Noviny (with whom we were
unable to meet),published nearly 80 percent of the requests
for right of reply that it received. Nemecek said that HN's
readership is comprised of sophisticated businessmen, who
have qualified lawyers to draft the requests. Nemecek said
that it is clear that the law in practice does not serve to
protect the interests of the average citizen, but rather the
political and business elite.


6. (SBU) Rasto Kuzel and Ivan Godarsky, International media
monitors from Slovak NGO "Memo 98" who were employed by the
OSCE to lobby for the removal of the most draconian elements
of the law, explained that while other countries such as
France have similar media laws, the Slovak law is the most
restrictive. For example, it does not allow the newspaper
the right to reply to a reply. Godarsky said it is difficult
to determine the amount of self-censorship which is

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occurring. He lamented the deterioration of relations
between journalists and the government, as well as the lack
of solidarity amongst journalists.


7. (U) In September 2008, over 40 opposition MP's from the
Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU),the Hungarian
Coalition Party (SMK),and the Christian Democratic Movement
(KDH),petitioned the Constitutional Court to rule on the
constitutionality of the law. A decision has been pending
ever since. According to Nemecek, the Association's legal
analysts identified as many as six provisions in the law
which are inconsistent with the Slovak Constitution. Magda
Vasaryova, an SDKU MP who serves as the Deputy Chair on the
Media and Culture Committee in Parliament, was not sanguine
about the appeal's success, as she believes (like many
observers) that the Constitutional Court is under political
influence.

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The Real Damage(s)
--------------


8. (SBU) Both Matus and Kostolny said that, while troublesome
and time consuming, the media law is not their greatest
concern. They are more worried about perceived corruption in
the judiciary, the increased use of libel laws by
politicians, and deterioration of press-government relations.
Kuzel observed that Slovak journalists seem unable to
articulate the importance of a free and strong press to
Slovak society to counter PM Fico's attacks against the media
in the legislature, in the courts, and in frequent public
comments likening journalists to "hyenas" and "idiots."


9. (U) Just two days after the re-election of President
Gasparovic (ref C),PM Fico called a press conference to
blast the media as Slovakia's "new opposition party." Fico
stated that not only had the press openly favored opposition
challenger Iveta Radicova during the campaign and was making
every attempt to discredit the government, but he went so far
as to link the press with anti-government extremist groups.
Fico warned journalists that if they do not stop these
activities, the "State Security Council will have to deal
with it."


10. (U) Gasparovic himself is no friend to the press. He has
barred individual reporters from his press conferences
because they reported on his frequent slips of the tongue,
and in the wake of his presidential victory again excluded
many from his election headquarters because of "concern"
about their media outlets' critical perspectives. In
response, the Slovak Journalists' Syndicate issued a
statement which said "it is the media's duty to check power
and take an objectively critical approach to its
performance...the freedom of speech (is) a basic democratic
value."


11. (SBU) Kuzel noted that while libel laws actually protect
the rights of the individual in other states, in Slovakia the
judiciary is too inefficient to provide this service to the
average citizen. Despite this supposed inefficiency, over the
past year the courts have made several exorbitant awards to
politicians who have sued the media for libel. In December
2008, Justice Minister Harabin won 16,600 euros from the
publishers of Plus 7 Days/Plus 1 Day for damages stemming
from an article entitled "Harabin is Protecting Murderers."
PM Fico won 8,298 euros from the same company for the misuse
of his photograph. In the past two months, the Bratislava
Regional Court has awarded Justice Minister Harabin 33,194
euros from the publishers of SME, and another 31,467 euros
from the publishers of Plus 7 Days; these decisions cannot be
appealed.

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Comment and Next Steps
--------------


12. (C) The media environment in Slovakia continues to
worsen. While the press law itself may not have a direct
censorious effect on the Slovak press, it is clear that the
neither the government nor the public have an appreciation
for the contributions of the "fourth estate" to democratic
society. By effectively casting the media (along with NGOs)
in the role of the opposition, PM Fico accomplishes two
goals. First, he discredits the media in the minds of the
many Slovaks who support him, and second, he further
marginalizes the already marginalized political opposition.
Fico is essentially saying that the opposition parties and
their leaders are not even worth his scorn, which -- in a
backhanded compliment -- is acknowledging the potential power
of the media. But, thus far, the press has displayed a
dazzling inability to respond to Fico's ridicule and threats

BRATISLAVA 00000176 003 OF 003


and establish itself as a well-respected element of Slovak
democracy.


13. (C) As we have reported (ref B and pQvious),we are
increasingly concerned about growing corruption in and
political manipulation of the judiciary under Justice
Minister Harabin, and much of that manipulation seems
directed against the media. That Harabin himself is the
beneficiary of so many of these libel cases is especially
striking. Unfortunately, a general sense of complacency
among Slovak citizens to the perils of a politically
suppressed judiciary has allowed Harabin to operate unchecked
-- and if he keeps winning libel suits the media may well be
spooked into quiescence.


14. (U) In a mission-wide effort to counter corruption in
Slovakia, several of our outreach projects, funded from the
kitbag of PAS money and programs, are aimed at improving the
media landscape of Slovakia. Among these are:

-- media literacy projects that will generate more
civic-minded citizens and public demand for a freer, more
active journalist corps;

-- spokesperson training to drive home the notion that a good
government communicates with its populace rather than hiding
information;

-- training journalists in better investigative journalism
techniques; and

-- targeted grants to NGOs that train government officials in
the benefits of making their daily business more transparent.



15. (C) In the long-term, we hope these measures will combine
to create a more transparent political culture, a more robust
press, and a more mobilized citizenry. In the short term, we
will continue to raise our concerns about corruption in the
judiciary with our receptive Slovak government interlocutors,
and will be monitoring freedom of the press, including
television and radio, where similar political pressure is
also reportedly being wrought.
EDDINS