Unrest at RTV Slovenia: Editor-in-chief Resigns Amid Internal Struggles

Unrest at RTV Slovenia: Editor-in-chief Resigns Amid Internal Struggles

Resignation of Jadranka Rebernik

Jadranka Rebernik, the editor-in-chief of the news program on TV SLO 1, has submitted an irrevocable resignation to the board of RTV Slovenia. Until a new editor-in-chief is appointed, Polona Fijavž will be leading the news program as the acting editor-in-chief. This comes as the board of RTV Slovenia began an investigation last week into whether the program’s editor-in-chief was fulfilling her duties, following a call from the council members of the institution’s employees.

Rebernik’s Tenure and Challenges

Rebernik assumed her role as the head of the news program following the resignation of the previous editor-in-chief, Manica Janežič Ambrožič, in October 2021. Ambrožič had disagreed with the cutting of the news program and the relocation of part of the schedule to another television program. This move was a part of the proposed programming-production plan for 2022.

In November, journalists from TVS’s news program organized a protest against these changes. Despite this, the then program council of the public institution confirmed the programming-production plan at the end of November. When Rebernik took over the leadership of the news program on TVS, she did not have the full support of the journalists. Even when appointed with a full mandate, she only received support from 21.8 percent of the employees who submitted their vote.

Internal Struggles and Management Response

The new management of Radio-Television Slovenia, led by Zvezdan Martić, recently tasked the acting director of TVS, Andraž Pöschl, to call on the editor-in-chief of the news program to prepare a report on activities. This directive followed the call of the council of workers, who discussed the situation in the news program of TVS on Wednesday.

The council members emphasized that the situation was becoming unbearable, attributing this to staff shortages, poor organization, and incompetent leadership. They called on the board to investigate and respond whether the news program of TVS’s 1st program still operates in such a way that it can perform its legal and statutory duties and whether these tasks are also performed by the program’s editor-in-chief Rebernik.

Future of RTV Slovenia

With the resignation of Jadranka Rebernik, RTV Slovenia finds itself in a precarious situation. As the board investigates the situation and works on appointing a new editor-in-chief, the news program will be led by Polona Fijavž in an acting capacity. It remains to be seen how the ongoing internal struggles and management issues will affect the future of RTV Slovenia and its news program.