Slovak News Back to the news
Media: Slovak Television And Markiza Protest Against Meciar's Criticism
Friday 20 November 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, November 20 (TASR) - The Slovak Television (STV) and privately-owned television Markiza protested on Friday against LS-HZDS party chair Vladimir Meciar's statements, in which he objected to the way his interviews regarding the Velvet Revolution were edited.
Meciar said at a press conference on Friday that both television stations edited his opinions into a "mishmash". He also objected that as a founding father of Slovakia, he wasn't given adequate television time.
"In truth, the Slovak Television was the only television to broadcast Vladimir Meciar's response on November 17 edition (the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution) of the main evening news, in which he also said: We all need to further work on changing the way we think; we lack the revolution in thinking," STV spokesman Peter Susko told TASR. He added that the LS-HZDS party representatives are frequently invited to STV's talk shows.
Meciar claims that he wasn't allowed to go on camera. According to him, the news edition was "a monologue and contained self-addressing of people representing only one part of the political spectrum". Meciar also didn't like that LS-HZDS was the sole party not represented in the STV chat show, dedicated to the Slovak Constitution.
Meciar regarded the November 1989 documentary, made and broadcast by television Markiza, as a "mishmash", because he thinks that the documentary was heavily edited on purpose.
"They recorded an interview with me. Later, they cut off my sentences and let other people comment on my statements, however, denying me the chance to react. I have no respect for journalists like these; I feel nothing but disdain for such news desk," said Meciar.
According to Markiza PR Manager Miroslava Labasova, the creators of 'The Tender (Revolution - ed. note) 1989 - 20 Years of Marriage With Freedom' sought to film interviews with outstanding personalities of the Czech and Slovak political or social life, including Vladimir Meciar.
"None of the interviewed people at the time knew the statements of Vladimir Meciar or anyone else involved. Hence, there were no responses," Labasova said.
She added that more than 60 minutes of material were recorded. "It's only understandable that these interviews couldn't have been used within a document of 35 minute footage in full length. However, the Markiza television has paid particular attention to grant every participant the same on-screen time." Labasova regarded the broadcast version as a high-quality documentary. "With great interest, it was viewed by 405,000 people," she added.
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.
