A portion of TV Markiza's employees have gone on strike alert as of Thursday, explaining that TV Markiza's management hasn't met their request to make a pledge in writing that the 'Na Telo' political talk show will be allowed to continue with the same host and free editorial structuring.
TASR learnt the news from social networks. Additional demands have been submitted to the management and if these are not met, the employees will go on strike.
In their Thursday declaration, the disgruntled employees claim that they object to interference with news reporting and political talk shows by the management. "The working conditions of employees and reporters are unsatisfactory, particularly due to significant obstacles to proper and unbiased news reporting," reads the post.
The employees call on the management to make a pledge in writing that such interventions will be discontinued. They also urge the management to declare that TV Markiza's news reports and political talk shows will be broadcast "freely, objectively and in an unbiased manner, regardless of whether they are to portray the governing power in a positive or negative light". The employees warned that they are determined to persevere and increase their pressure. "If the management won't meet our demands, we're ready, for the first time in the history of this company, to go on strike," reads the text.
On Sunday (May 26), TV host Michal Kovacic of the 'Na Telo' talk show delivered an unexpected and unauthorised soliloquy, in which he told the viewers about an alleged ongoing effort by TV Markiza's management to intervene with and censor both the news reporting and political talk shows, and warned of the creeping 'Orbanisation' of Slovakia's television landscape. This did not sit well with the management, which called Kovacic's speech a violation of the Media Act, violation of the journalistic ethical code and the besmirching of TV Markiza's good name. "In the context of these facts, we perceive the published demands by the employees as a complete failure to understand the situation," stated the management about the first set of demands.
On Thursday, TV Markiza's management announced that it will not meet the demands of its employees calling for the return of the 'Na Telo' talk show with Michal Kovacic and the restoration of its free editorial structuring. "TV Markiza as a privately-owned television station, fully complying with the legal rules regulating the television broadcasting and the inviolability of private property, cannot and will not yield to ultimatums regarding its programming and personnel issues," said TV Markiza's spokesperson.
About one hundred employees as well as several opposition politicians have voiced their support of Kovacic.
(TASR)
