Ljubljana, 18 Mar - The Peace Institute invites to a public debate on the book “You Call This a Media Market?  – The Role of the State in the Media Sector in Slovenia”, written by Sandra B. Hrvatin and Brankica Petković. The debate will be chaired by Neva Nahtigal and will be simultaneously translated in English. It will take place in Ljubljana in Cankarjev Dom (hall M1) on Thursday, 20th March 2008 at 18:00 pm.   

The book which was recently published within the Media Watch book series of the Peace Institute has gained lot of attention since it explores the issues connected to enduring conflicts between the media and the political sphere in Slovenia, with the change of government in 2004 aggravating the situation.  The authors examined state (and political) influence on the media sector in Slovenia using several indicators – media ownership, advertising, subsidies i.e. state aid to the media, allocation of broadcasting frequencies, the operation of supervisory bodies controlling the broadcasting field, the operation of the public service broadcaster RTV Slovenija, the situation of audiovisual culture and the links between the Roman Catholic Church and the State within the media field.    

The indicators chosen for the study show that a number of the mechanisms through which the State and the political sphere exert influence on the media system are in place in Slovenia.  

The publishing of the book and the research done for the study on the role of the state in the media sector in Slovenia have been supported by the Open Society Institute Network Media Program The Media Watch project in Slovenia (see http://mediawatch.mirovni-institut.si) was established in 1997 by the Open Society Institute - Slovenia for monitoring, analysing and reporting on the media policy and media practices in Slovenia. Since January 2001 the project operates within the Peace Institute in Ljubljana with the support of the Open Society Institute.