Slovakia and World Press Freedom Index

Slovakia has fallen by ten places year-on-year in the Reporters without Borders (RSF) 2018 World Press Freedom Index. It currently holds 27^th place. The NGO referred to the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak in February as a key event. RSF claims that overall verbal violence from politicians against journalists has been on the rise in Europe, although it is the region that respects press freedom the most. "In Slovakia, the ex-Prime Minister Robert Fico called journalists 'filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes' and 'idiotic hyenas'," quotes RSF. "Political leaders who fuel loathing for reporters bear heavy responsibility because they undermine the concept of public debate based on facts instead of propaganda," said RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire. At the same time, the Minister of Culture Ľubica Laššáková informs that Slovakia is doing the best out of the V4 countries considering the freedom of press. According to the Opposition Freedom and Solidarity party, it is mainly the third government of Robert Fico that is responsible for Slovakia's overall significant drop in the press freedom ranking.