Slovakia: Via Iuris, MEMO 98, Transparency International and RSF file complaint over lack of impartiality and pluralism in public broadcaster’s TV news coverage

On 24 April, the NGOs defending rule of law and media freedom, Via Iuris, MEMO 98, Transparency International Slovakia and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) submitted a formal complaint to the Slovak media regulator, the Council for Media Services, over the failure of the public broadcaster Slovak Television and Radio (STVR) to provide impartial and pluralistic news coverage in line with the Slovak Act on Media Services, the STVR Act and the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). The complaint was also sent to the broadcaster's oversight body, the STVR Council.

The complaint drafted by Via Iuris is based on extensive monitoring of the main evening TV news programmes of STVR and Slovakia's commercial channels conducted by MEMO 98 in November 2025 and February 2026, as well as a targeted topical analysis concerning the TV news coverage of the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2026.

The findings, supported also by separate monitoring of Transparency International Slovakia (from July 2025, October 2025, and November 2025), point to repeated and systematic shortcomings in relation to legal obligations on public service broadcasting in Slovakia, particularly the requirements of objectivity, impartiality, and pluralism as defined under the national media legislation and relevant European standards.

Allegations of imbalance and lack of pluralism

The complaint highlights multiple instances where STVR's TV news coverage failed to ensure impartial and comprehensive representation of relevant actors and viewpoints in politically and socially sensitive stories.

These include cases in which only one side of a dispute or political issue was given meaningful airtime, while opposing voices, independent experts, and affected stakeholders were either absent or insufficiently represented. In several reports, according to the complainants, editorial framing appeared to rely heavily on statements from government representatives without adequate contextualisation or critical counterbalance.

The organisations also point to concerns regarding editorial sequencing and placement of stories, non-existent or selective use of contextual information, and the use of framing that may have influenced viewers' interpretation of important socio-political events.

A particular focus of the complaint is STVR's coverage of the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While acknowledging that the topic was given prominent placement and included international inputs and basic factual framing, the complainants argue that the overall treatment not only lacked depth, human perspective, and sufficient contextual balance, and moreover, that the television coverage, in fact, offered its audience a heavily distorted, even manipulative form of visual reporting.

The legal and European frameworks cited

The complaint references obligations under Slovak media legislation, particularly Section 25 of the Act on Media Services, which requires broadcasters to ensure plurality of information, objectivity, and impartiality in news programming.

It also invokes the public service mandate of STVR under its founding legislation, as well as principles enshrined in the EMFA, which emphasises the role of public service media in providing independent, diverse, and trustworthy information.

In addition, the complainants refer to relevant case-law of European and national courts stressing the importance of accuracy, transparency, and separation of facts from commentary in news reporting.

Request to the media regulator

The organisations ask the Slovak media regulator to assess whether the identified broadcasts comply with legal obligations on impartiality and pluralism. They also urge the authority to consider the broader pattern emerging from the monitoring, rather than treating each issue in isolation.

They argue that the findings may indicate structural weaknesses in editorial practices rather than isolated editorial errors.

STVR's statement from February 2026, claiming its TV news coverage is "balanced" is the result of a selective interpretation of external content analysis, the full version of which was provided to RSF based on its freedom-of-information request.

The Council for Media Services, which itself pointed out the over-representation of ruling parties in STVR's political debate programmes in 2025 in its annual report published in late March 2026, can impose sanctions on the public broadcaster for non-compliance with the law, ranging from formal notices to financial penalties.

Slovakia is ranked 38th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.