The Council of Europe 2022 Rule of Law Report recommended Slovakia to “advance with the process to establish legislative and other safeguards to improve the physical safety and working environment of journalists, including the reform of defamation law, taking into account European standards on the protection of journalists.” However, this recommendation has not been fulfilled.

A survey conducted in November 2022 – January 2023 by the Investigative Centre of Ján Kuciak shows that more than two-thirds (66.2 %) of Slovak journalists have experienced an incident, in the form of an attack or threat, in the past 12 months and 47 % think the number of incidents has increased over 5 years. According to the survey, 33,3 % of Slovak journalists think the intensity of verbal attacks by politicians has increased. The most common incidents are personal or online verbal attacks – 76% respondents, while more than 15 % of journalists have faced threats or intimidation and more than 4 % also experienced a physical attack.

In its 2023 Rule of Law report on Slovakia, the Council of Europe noted that legislative frameworks are in place to ensure transparency of media ownership, including a legal requirement to make information about beneficial ownership of media available in a public register. Media Pluralism Monitor 2023 therefore reduced it risk score to “low risk” regarding this indicator.

In its 2023 Rule of Law report on Slovakia, the Council of Europe also noted there has been some progress made in the country to strengthen the rules and mechanisms in order to enhance the independent governance and editorial independence of public service media, taking into account the European standards on public service media. The Council of Europe recommended to continue strengthening this process further.

According to Media Pluralism Monitor 2023, Slovakia maintains a high level of whistle-blower protection. In May 2023, Slovakia transposed the EU Whistleblowing Directive into national legislation, after more than a year since the European Commission threatened it with sanctions for delaying the transposition. According to the Council of Europe 2023 Rule of Law report, Slovakia’s Whistleblower Protection Office invests in public awareness campaigns, but low reporting in practice continues to be an obstacle.

The offence of defamation is being used to intimidate and bully journalists and the media. Defamation remains punishable in Slovakia by a prison sentence of two to eight years, one of the harshest punishments in the EU. According to Reporters without Borders, although these sentences are mostly not applied by the Slovak courts, they allow politicians and businesses to exercise pressure on journalists.

With regards to political influence of media, according to Media Monitor 2023, Slovakia has improved from high to medium risk, mainly due to the absence of evidence and indications of cases of political control over media in 2022. The lack of regulatory safeguards preventing conflict of interest in media or effective limitation of direct or indirect control of media by politicians or political parties remains a concern.

According to the Media Monitor 2023, gender equality on Slovak media remains a high risk, including in the sub-indicator of lack of representation of women in the news.

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) do not exist as a separate legal concept in the current Slovak legal framework – we thus monitor different forms of abuse of civil and criminal means to punish, silence or intimidate journalists for their work. The survey by the Investigative Centre of Ján Kuciak published in February 2023 showed that 2,74 % of Slovak journalists have experienced legal harassment/SLAPPs in the previous twelve months. According to the Media Pluralism Monitor 2023, the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic registered ten SLAPP cases against journalists.

Slovakia scored as being “medium risk” in the Media Pluralism Monitor 2023, covering the year 2022, however highlighting that the average risk level has significantly decreased due to the adoption of the Law on Media Services. The average risk in Media Pluralism Monitor 2022 for Slovakia was “medium” (52% with lowest percentage being the lowest risk, 17^th place out of 32 European countries monitored). The average risk for Slovakia in the following Media Pluralism Monitor 2023 was “medium” (47%, 15^th place out of 32 European countries monitored).

Within the four monitored areas, Slovakia ranked as follows:

• Fundamental Protection – “low risk”
• Market Plurality – “high risk”
• Political Independence – “medium risk”
• Social Inclusiveness – “medium risk”