Slovak News Back to the news
President: Media Often Lack Objectivity
Tuesday 29 December 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, December 29 (TASR) - Every so often, the Slovak media lack objectivity when trying to find the truth, President Ivan Gasparovic told TASR on Tuesday.
Gasparovic thinks that journalists haven't understood yet that their role is not simply to seek out negatives.
"If the media reveal something not in accordance with the concept of good, positive policy with respect to the state and people, it's their duty to draw attention to it. However, their role is also to emphasise positives, not to create an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty and dread where none exists. They're not here to establish a position that benefits only a certain group of people, that's not good," said Gasparovic.
The president also regrets the ongoing struggle between the media and Premier Robert Fico. "Do you think that the media report truthfully about Fico all the time? I don't think you can answer that one 'yes'," he said, when asked what he thinks about the premier's criticism of the media.
Gasparovic said that he rarely reacts to the media himself, as he hopes that people will form their own opinions on issues, regardless of whether the media "writes in a negative light, a positive light, misleads or writes half-truths only".
The president also cautioned about what he referred to as "verbal terror". According to him, "democracy is a nice thing, but (it) needs to be guarded, so that it doesn't go to an extreme that leads anywhere but to democratic equality and freedom".
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
