<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Since Janez Janša’s government has been installed, not a day has gone by that the ruling coalition party, SDS (the Slovenian Democratic Party), has not been accused of undermining the freedom of media or threatening media pluralism. Sometimes, critics go even further in condemning Janša as wilfully subordinating media to politics. Regarding subordination, independent media studies from 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008 and lastly 2020 haveclearly indicated that the media in Slovenia are to a certain extent already under the influence of politics, namely those close to the left circles. Whilst scientific conclusions prove the fact that changes in media legislation are more than needed, the question that arises is whether the proposers are looking at the concept of media pluralism from the right perspective. Leaning on the most recent Media landscape research, this article stands out from the rest as it draws parallels with the state of political pluralism, demonstrating how partial and imbalanced covering of news could lead to the domination of one political spectrum. Further, we do a historical review of the right-wing media policy and bring to light those aspects that have undergone the sharpest criticism when it comes to media pluralism. In addition, new ideas for future research are discussed.</p>
</abstract>

Since Janez Janša’s government has been installed, not a day has gone by that the ruling coalition party, SDS (the Slovenian Democratic Party), has not been accused of undermining the freedom of media or threatening media pluralism. Sometimes, critics go even further in condemning Janša as wilfully subordinating media to politics. Regarding subordination, independent media studies from 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008 and lastly 2020 haveclearly indicated that the media in Slovenia are to a certain extent already under the influence of politics, namely those close to the left circles. Whilst scientific conclusions prove the fact that changes in media legislation are more than needed, the question that arises is whether the proposers are looking at the concept of media pluralism from the right perspective. Leaning on the most recent Media landscape research, this article stands out from the rest as it draws parallels with the state of political pluralism, demonstrating how partial and imbalanced covering of news could lead to the domination of one political spectrum. Further, we do a historical review of the right-wing media policy and bring to light those aspects that have undergone the sharpest criticism when it comes to media pluralism. In addition, new ideas for future research are discussed.

Fight For Media Pluralism Or Just “JanŠA’S War On Media”?

Research in Social Change

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Fight For Media Pluralism Or Just \u201cJanŠA\u2019S War On Media\u201d?"}

Since Janez Janša’s government has been installed, not a day has gone by that the ruling coalition party, SDS (the Slovenian Democratic Party), has not been...

Ruling coalition party	Political orientation	No. of days in office	Start date	Finished date	Percentage
DEMOS	Right-wing	729	16. May 1990	14. May 1992	6,3%
LDS	Left-wing	376	14. May 1992	25. Jan. 1993	3,3%
LDS	Left-wing	1,860	25. Jan. 1993	27. Feb. 1997	16,3%
LDS	Left-wing	1,196	27. Feb. 1997	07. Jun. 2000	10,5%
SKD	Right-wing	176	07. Jun. 2000	30. Nov. 2000	1,5%
LDS	Left-wing	749	30. Nov. 2000	19. Dec. 2002	6,6%
LDS	Left-wing	715	19. Dec. 2002	03. Dec. 2004	6,3%
SDS	Right-wing	1,479	03. Dec. 2004	21. Nov. 2008	13,0%
SD	Left-wing	1,146	21. Nov. 2008	10. Feb. 2012	10,1%
SDS	Right-wing	404	10. Feb. 2012	20. Mar. 2013	3,6%
PS	Left-wing	547	20. Mar. 2013	18. Sep. 2014	4,8%
SMC	Left-wing	1,456	18. Sep. 2014	13. Sep. 2018	12,8%
LMŠ	Left-wing	547	13. Sep. 2018	13. Mar. 2020	4,8%
Total		11,380			100%

No.	Year	Pol. party	Pol. orientation
1	1990	DEMOS	Right-wing
2	1992	LDS	Left-wing
3	1996	LDS	Left-wing
4	2000	LDS	Left-wing
5	2004	SDS	Right-wing
6	2008	SD	Left-wing
7	2011	PS	Left-wing
8	2014	SMC	Left-wing
9	2018	SDS	Right-wing

Fight For Media Pluralism Or Just “JanŠA’S War On Media”?

Article Category: Original Scientific Article

Published Online: Dec 30, 2021

Page range: 59 - 77

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rsc-2021-0009

Keywords
plurality, democracy, media, media pluralism, political pluralism, political elites, right-wing politics, media landscape, media legislation

© 2021 Rok Bratina., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Picture 1.

Picture 2.

Picture 3.

Picture 4.

Picture 5.

Picture 6.

Picture 7.

Picture 8.

Picture 9.

Picture 10.

Ruling coalition parties at the helm of the Slovenian government

The review of all winners of the parliamentary elections (1990–2018)

Fight For Media Pluralism Or Just “JanŠA’S War On Media”?

Article Category: Original Scientific Article

Published Online: Dec 30, 2021

Page range: 59 - 77

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rsc-2021-0009

Keywordsplurality, democracy, media, media pluralism, political pluralism, political elites, right-wing politics, media landscape, media legislation

© 2021 Rok Bratina., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Picture 1.

Picture 2.

Picture 3.

Picture 4.

Picture 5.

Picture 6.

Picture 7.

Picture 8.

Picture 9.

Picture 10.

Ruling coalition parties at the helm of the Slovenian government

The review of all winners of the parliamentary elections (1990–2018)

Keywords
plurality, democracy, media, media pluralism, political pluralism, political elites, right-wing politics, media landscape, media legislation