The Slovenian News Agency (STA) was established in June 1991, just days before the country declared independence. The agency provides news in various formats, freely available or sold to paying subscribers.
Media assets
News agency: STA
State Media Matrix Typology: Independent State Funded and State Managed (ISFM)
Ownership and governance
The STA, a limited liability company owned by the state, is regulated by the Slovenian News Agency Law of 2011. This law guarantees transparency in the agency’s financing and operations. The STA is overseen by a Supervisory Board, which is appointed by the National Assembly with an absolute majority. This arrangement is intended to prevent powerful political parties from imposing their preferred candidates. The board subsequently appoints the agency’s general director through an open application process.
However, following the return to power of right-wing politician Janez Jansa, the government initiated an assault on the editorial independence of the country’s public media (RTVSLO and STA), a move that was anticipated to bolster the government’s influence over the STA’s governance structures. In October 2021, the head of the STA, Bojan Veselinovic, resigned after refusing a draft contract with the government. Veselinovic argued that the contract would render the agency entirely under government control (see Source of funding and budget below).
Source of funding and budget
STA is funded through a combination of state subsidy and commercial revenues (mostly sales of news content and subscriptions). In recent years, STA has managed to decrease its dependence on the government by boosting its sales revenues. Yet, the company’s allocation from the state budget (paid to STA to perform its public service mission as an independent news agency) still accounts for more than 50% of its annual budget, according to the latest annual report for 2019.
Legal changes, announced by the government in July 2020, which would replace the government allocation with part of the revenue from the license fee (now charged to finance RTVSLO), were expected to financially cripple the public broadcaster RTVSLO, giving the government more influence over its operations.
The government withheld state funds from STA during most of the year 2021, destabilizing the agency and securing the government control over its editorial agenda. In November 2021, the government agreed to release the state funds to the agency, but that is far from solving the outlet’s situation.
Eventually, in November 2021, STA signed an agreement with the government, giving the agency access to government funds and thus allowing it to carry out its activities. The situation stabilized in January 2023 when the government approved a new contract with STA that confirmed a state subsidy of roughly €2.7m, an increase of 10% compared to the year before. The approval allowed the agency to perform its activities.
The budget approval follows a decision by the government in December 2022 to abolish controversial regulations introduced by the previous regime that made the state funding allocation conditional on a set of quantitative performance indicators that prevented the agency from pursuing its public service mission.
In June 2024, the government announced reforming the STA’s funding model. The culture ministry prepared a bill introducing a new formula that uses public funds to cover the difference between the costs incurred from performing public services and the commercial revenues earned by the STA. The STA’s management and staff have warmly received the bill.
Editorial independence
Despite Slovenia having had six different governments since adopting the STA Act in 2011, the Slovenian News Agency has managed to maintain its independence, thanks to a set of legal provisions that mirror the legislation governing France’s newswire AFP. According to these provisions, the agency would “under no circumstances” accept to become dependent on any ideological, political, or economic group. However, these specific provisions were removed in July 2020 from the amended STA Act, posing a serious threat to the future independence of the STA.
In December 2022, the government abolished several regulations that mandated the STA to adhere to specific conditions, such as quotas on editorial output production. These regulations were purported to make the agency reliant on the government. While the STA’s journalists welcomed removing these rules, a comprehensive revision of the STA Act is necessary to introduce additional legal provisions to guarantee the agency’s total editorial independence.
STA is governed by a set of strict legal provisions aimed at establishing and protecting its independence.
Parliament must approve the STA’s annual reports as a mechanism for assessment and oversight. This allows parliament to dismiss the STA’s management if necessary. However, this has not occurred since the STA Act was adopted in 2011.
August 2024