Prime Minister wants to topple head of public broadcaster RTVS

In a meeting with members of the HNClub economic discussion group on Tuesday, Prime Minister Robert Fico criticised the state broadcaster Radio & Television Slovakia (RTVS), stating that he wishes to see Václav Mika, General Manager of Radio & Television Slovakia, replaced. "Slovak Television is not a public service and the leadership of RTVS has ensured this public entity remains that way. I consider the news service of RTVS tuned for the opposition. The head of RTVS must be changed," said Fico at the Tuesday meeting. Fico's statement reduces the chances of Mika's re-election for the post when parliament votes on it in June. The prime minister also attacked Slovak news media in general. "You publish information that is s**t. I'm sorry to say it like this openly, but I stand behind these words," Fico told reporters. Dominika Šulková, Marketing and Communications Manager for RTVS, stated that, "RTVS continues to refuse to be drawn into political combat and fulfils all the legal obligations of a public broadcaster." Despite the prime minister's long-term critique of the neutrality of RTVS, recent polls show that the public broadcaster has improved in this regard in the eyes of the public. The polling agency Median reported that at the end of 2012 RTVS news was seen as objective by 11.3 percent of those asked, however at the end of 2016 it had increased to 24.1 percent of all respondents. Additionally, RTVS reached its higher ever television viewership in November of 2016, overtaking Televízia Markíza by 24 percent.