Opposition parties criticise STVR following appointment of new board members

Originally a public institution, public broadcaster STVR is becoming a puppet in the hands of the Culture Ministry and government, the opposition Christian Democratic Movement has said in connection with the appointment of members of the supervisory body of the public broadcaster on Friday, lambasting in particular the appointment of secretary-general of the service office of the Culture Ministry Lukas Machala.

Opposition 'Slovakia' party also expressed its discontentment with the appointment of Machala.  "A conspiracy-theorist Lukas Machala, who believes that Earth is flat, was given a post in the state television. As a new member of the state television's board, he will oversee the ideological purity of its programming," stated former culture minister (2020-23) and party member Natalia Milanova, who also criticised the other three appointments.

At the same time, Progressive Slovakia vice-chair MP Zora Jaurova stated that the governing coalition has crudely changed the law to appoint people who are affiliated with it to new posts. She too pointed in particular to the nominations of Jozef Kroslak and Lukas Machala.

The culture minister on Thursday appointed four members of the STVR board, namely Peter Bencurik, Jozef Kroslak, Lukas Machala and Jarmila Mikusova. The minister selected three candidates on behalf of the Culture Ministry based on a committee's recommendations and appointed the fourth one based on the finance minister's proposal. The remaining five STVR board members will be elected by Parliament based on a proposal by the parliamentary culture and media committee.

Source: TASR