Slovenian News Agency (STA)

The Slovenian News Agency (STA) was established on 20 June 1991, just days before the country declared its independence, and continues to provide news in multiple formats — freely accessible or available via subscriptions. 

Media assets

News agency: STA

State Media Matrix Typology

Independent State Funded and State Managed (ISFM)

Ownership and governance

The STA operates as a limited liability company wholly owned by the state, and is governed by the Slovenian News Agency Law of 2011. This legislation ensures transparency in both financing and operations. The agency is overseen by a Supervisory Board, appointed by the National Assembly through an absolute majority, a design meant to guard against undue political influence. This board in turn appoints the director through an open application process.

Director General of STA is Mojca Prelesnik, appointed by the Supervisory Board effective 18 July 2024 after concluding her term as Information Commissioner. Mihael Šuštaršič was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the STA in early September 2025, succeeding Aljoša Rehar, who has since left the position.

Under Prime Minister Janez Janša, the government withheld funding for much of 2020–2021, which stifled STA’s operations and raised concerns about editorial independence. STA head Bojan Veselinović resigned in October 2021, citing an unacceptable draft contract that he felt placed the agency under government control.

In November 2021, the government resumed funding under a new agreement, stabilizing operations. Subsequently, in December 2022, performance-based funding conditions were abolished, restoring editorial flexibility. Further reform followed in June 2024, introducing a funding model that covers the gap between public-service costs and commercial revenues—an idea welcomed by STA management and staff.

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.

Legal changes, announced by the government in July 2020, which were to 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 warmly received the bill.

On 23 December 2024, the government signed a new annual contract for 2025, allocating €2,844,091, an 18.6% increase (about €447,000 more than in 2024). This contract explicitly aims to strengthen STA’s financial independence, fund salary adjustments in line with inflation, and support digitalization and IT security.

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.

September 2025