The draft amendment to the press law proposed by the Smer party and recently discussed in Parliament is triggering criticism from opposition MPs and publishers, but the coalition partner Most-Hid supports it. "I will support the proposal that a public official should have the right to reply in the case of untrue information. Journalists have to criticize us when we make a mistake, but they cannot do politics," said Bela Bugar the head of the Most-Hid party, adding that he would fight for the right to reply, even for introducing fines. Opposition MP Renáta Kaščáková from the Freedom and Solidarity party thinks that the reintroduction of the right of reply for politicians is nonsensical and it limits the right to the free dissemination of information. "It's a whip to journalists who write critically," she said.
According to the proposal, "if a publisher does not publish a correction, reply or additional notice, or fails to comply with any of the conditions for publication, the person who has requested the publication of that correction shall have the right to a financial compensation of between of €1,660 to €4,980. The entitlement to an adequate financial compensation can be exercised in court ". Last week the Slovak Association of Publishers issued a statement against the draft. "We urge state representatives to change the tone and content of their communications with the journalist community and, to join the temporary working group on media issues set up at the Ministry of Culture. At the same time, we ask the ministry to distance itself from proposals that are contrary to what is being said in the expert field and to ensure that it will not support any such measure as proposed in the draft amendment," reads the publishers' statement.
