Parliament approved an amendment to the Press Act on Tuesday which stipulates that politicians, and not only private individuals, have the right to reply to statements made about them in public media. 86 MPs voted for the amendment sponsored by MP Dušan Jarjabek (Smer-SD), while 51 voted against. The right to reply was first introduced in 2008, but was later altered so as to be reserved only to private individuals. The current amendment extends the right once again to include politicians. Public officials will have the right to reply if the press or a news agency publishes untrue, incomplete or truth-distorting statements that "affect the honour, dignity or privacy of a natural person, or the name or reputation of a corporate entity." Publishers and news agencies are obliged to publish such replies free of charge, or pay a compensation of between €1,660 and €4,980. The amendment is to take effect on November 1, 2019. Parliament also approved another amendment proposed by opposition MPs, limiting the right so as to apply only to false and truthfully distorting claims.
Supporters of the amendment argued that the right of reply is a basic element of the laws governing the press in certain European countries, such as France. Critics of the move, however, characterise it as an attempt by politicians to control the freedom of the press. The editor-in-chief of SME daily, Beata Balogová, wrote in an editorial that the new law will make for a poor reading experience and get no one closer to the truth. "On the contrary," she claimed, "it potentially infects a space that the politician has no business controlling." She added that the right "makes no sense at a time when politicians are spreading their aphorisms of hate through social media without restriction, and without having to face the questions of journalists." Balogová points out that politicians already had the right to request a correction if the published information was not true. The adding of an additional right, she claims, reflects the mentality of politicians who believe that the journalist is meant to be a spokesperson who obediently reports on their achievements.
