On 9 May 2023, the International Press Institute (IPI) will launch a new report examining media capture in Slovakia by holding a press conference in Bratislava with the author, Slovak journalist and researcher Peter Hanák.

The one-hour launch event will be held at 11.30am CET at the Comenius University Infocentre Café in the Building of Department of Journalism at Comenius University, Štúrova street 9, Bratislava.

The report, which will also be published online on Tuesday, examines the phenomenon of media capture in Slovakia in recent years and how independent journalism and media pluralism have faced intertwined pressures from vested political and business interests.

Published ahead of an upcoming election in which fragile media freedom progress in Slovakia appears at stake, the report examines the current state of play and forms recommendations for governments and policymakers to adopt to help safeguard press freedom in the future.

In its analysis, the report examines the current landscape of media ownership, the engrained challenges facing the independence of public service media, manipulation of state advertising to media, and the threats of capture to media regulators, as well as the denigration and demonisation of critical journalism by political forces.

All are welcome to attend. The press conference will include time for questions from media. For more information, please contact IPI Europe Advocacy Officer Jamie Wiseman – [email protected]

• Peter Hanák, is a journalist at independent Slovak news website Aktuality.sk, a university teacher, and a researcher.

The report was published with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and as part of IPI’s programme of work in the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a project which tracts, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.  MFRR is supported by funding from the European Commission.