A bird’s eye view on the history offer on TV in SLOVENIA

by Darko Štrajn, Sabina Autor, Tina Šešerko

PART I
THE OVERALL TV LANDSCAPE

One of the contributors to the thematic issue of the journal Public – Javnost on the history of the Slovenian media found out that “Ever larger covering of the Slovenia’s territory with the TV-signal influenced the build-up of the Slovenian national identity” (Pušnik, 2008: 123). Therefore, it follows that television – as the key audio-visual media – makes history. For Slovenia we can ascertain that Television played and it still plays very important role related to history as it gradually became the most influential among all media. “There is no doubt that broadcasting TV is just one of the historical forms of television. /…/ Now we are in the age of technological changes, when parallel to new media also new forms of uses of old media develop” (Zajc, 2008: 92). On the other hand television “makes history” in a more literal sense: with its many genres, ranging from news programs and documentaries to series and fictional programmes, it generates a strong impression on viewers, who are exposed to the effect of immediacy of audio-visual media. This effect is inherited from cinema. As Jacques Rancière finds out immediacy is demanded by “projected moving shadows” due to the fact that “its instant performance must be identified with the tracing of a writing of forms” (Rancière, 2013: Chapter 11). This a bit enigmatic expression indicates that the effect of immediacy is one of the consequences of functioning of technology, which Walter Benjamin at the early stages of cinema noted in his still largely debated essay. As he says, we get “/…/ precisely because of the thoroughgoing permeation of reality with mechanical equipment, an aspect of reality which is free of all equipment” (Benjamin, 1969: 234). In other words, now with not just mechanical, but electronic equipment, audio-visual media are so powerful because they are able to induce a sense and an illusion of immediate perception of reality. A viewer usually doesn’t say that he/she saw an image of the Queen of Great Britain on TV, but that he/she saw the Queen herself on TV. Audio-visual media therefore represent a powerful tool of manipulating (with) reality. An audio-visual agency incorporating such potential is known from the beginning of documentary film. Reality is presented in a more impressive and imposing manner than in a written text. We should not forget that television and in last decades in much more heterogeneous manner the Internet, are mass media. Even in a relatively small national and ethnically strongly determined community of Slovenia they do their work as mass media in a full imaginable complexity.

Slovenia went through similar stages of developing audio-visual media as any other European country after the World War 2. Television, being a technological wonder at first, develop into coloured TV in 1970s and then it turned out to be a part of furniture in every household. Some specific features are related to a special social and political factors: Slovenian TV started as a part of Yugoslav TV, but within former Yugoslavia it already in 1970s became fully autonomous organisation with its own technical and journalistic crews. Until the end of 1980s the predominant form, indeed the only form, of ownership of the broadcasting TV channels was public. TV sets and radio owners were and still are paying monthly subscription to the public organisation RTV Slovenija. Already starting in 1ate 1980s different forms of owning and managing media started to develop. Slovenia is one of those countries where cable systems are exceptionally well developed and they serve as the infrastructure for all forms of TV as well as for broad-band internet. At first cable systems made possible a development of local and “micro” TV studios, but at the same time global TV programmes, along with new corporate TV, became accessible through cables. National public TV gradually became just one of the dominant organisations in the whole media business. However, there is a very important surplus value in the public ownership since it became obvious that this is the only way for the time being to have programmes, which are produced and distributed for other reasons than the ones, which are dictated by market forces. This is especially important for such content as history, which actually is properly dealt with only on the public TV. On the other hand, the public “ownership” makes the TV a matter of strong political interests. These are visible in sometimes fierce struggles between political parties in the Parliament to control the Council of the Radio-television (Svet RTV Slovenija). Editors, journalists and technical professionals have their voice, but the extent of their professional autonomy is quite often questioned. Legislature that determines the position of the organisation is a matter of changes depending on power relations in the Parliament. Sometimes political parties even call a referendum on changes of media legislature. This does not help to keep high quality standard in production of all kinds of content that public TV can provide. “Indicators of a breakthrough of a new ruling political non-culture are obvious this autumn after the referendum. We should not underestimate them: exactly the fact that they happen on the levels of populism, popular culture, daily life and not in topics of State politics is a proof that we have to deal with exceptionally dangerous and maybe long term changes in mentalities” (Vogrinc, 2006: 10). Of course, it is a matter of an impartial analysis to find out how much such state of affairs affects the form and content, but in our overview of displaying of history on TV channels in Slovenia it is obvious that some regrettable influences modify the content.

The TV offer in Slovenia

Slovenian public has an array of channels and programs to choose from. They are generally accessible through cable systems, but all main channels, which are backed by production and broadcasting organisations are available also through “terrestrial” antennas. Other national (for instance ÖRF, RAI, etc.), international and global programmes are generally accessible through cables or, of course, satellite receivers, but cable organisations demand special subscriptions for some particular programmes. Cable providers offer over 250 programmes, which comprise national, regional, local, global news programmes and many documentary programmes (of popular science, tourism etc.), but numerous programmes cover the demand for a whole variety of entertainment and sports. Some programmes are available only through different schemes of special subscriptions. Still, so called basic programme schemes (comprising about 50 – 80 programmes) offer “a bit of everything” and at least one of the global history channels is available in such scheme.

– As for offer of historical content, National TV of Slovenia with its three channels – one of them is so called parliamentary channel – is the most important resource, especially considering production of content in genres as documentaries, interviews and talk shows. Of course its news programmes play important and special role in presenting historical contents. It should be stressed that in the framework of public TV there are programmes for two constitutionally recognised ethnic minorities (Italian and Hungarian). In case of the Italian programmes there is even a specialised studio in Koper, with its own production of news and talk shows.

– Television POP – TV, owned by PRO-PLUS international media organisation, takes the biggest market share in audio-visual area. To conform to the legislation POP-TV has a relatively strong content production team and they air above all news programmes, but the rest is more or less just entertainment in genres like reality TV, “big brother” and sports programmes. Of course, they screen a lot of on average mediocre and low quality films and TV series.

– PLANET TV is a channel, which is corporately owned by Antenna Group, based in Greece, and Tsmedia (mixed foreign and domestic owners). The programme’s production contains a news programme Danes (Today), which occasionally touches upon history. The rest is entertainment.

– Among other Slovenian programmes, which are local, “micro”, or thematically specialised (for example for religions), there is one, which has higher ambitions to become more influential. Nova TV 24 was initialised in the year 2015 by interested groups close to the main opposition party SDS (Slovenian Democratic Party). For the time being the channel operates only as a low key cable channel, but it tries to produce its own content as news, talk shows, comments etc. This politically heavily biased programme has a simplified focus on history. As the programme’s production is still deep bellow media professional standards and it, accordingly, does not attract more than 1% of viewers, we decided not to include it in our overview of offer of history by the Slovenian visual media.

Slovenia hasn’t enough resources or critical mass of interest to have its own specialised history channel. Therefore, those viewers, who are interested in such content can have access (through cable or satellite) to global programmes like History Channel and Viasat History. Cable systems also provide Slovenian subtitles for documentaries and other content presented by these channels. At different cable providers these programmes, especially in HD quality, are available in diverse pay-tv “packages”. These programmes seem to be quite popular, but our estimate is that probably less than two percent (at most) of viewers follow them systematically.

As for viewership, we can briefly affirm that shares of viewing public are quite stable for at least a decade. In the official report by Ministry of Culture (2014: 52) we can find out that POP TV and its “Kanal A” together in years 2009 until 2012 had a share approaching 35% of viewers. National public TV with its two channels manages to attract some 25% of viewers. All other channels don’t exceed 1% each.

It would be interesting to find out how many viewers of different age actually follow historic contents and some particular programmes of such genre. However, to find this out would require a special research effort. We can guess that the most viewed programmes, apart from news, are some documentaries, presented in different frameworks and contexts. We suppose that only those, which are aired in prime time (for Slovenia this is between 20 and 22 hours in the evening), exceed 20 or 30% of viewers. In case of Slovenian public TV such programmes are also accessible in the “archive” on the internet site of the Slovenian RTV, which makes possible to use them in schools as additional material in history curriculum.

We wrote this overview of history on TV in Slovenia by making use of TV guide “Vikend”, which is published weekly by the main daily Newspaper Delo. We supplied the electronic copy of the relevant pages of the guide separately as the evidence for our overview that follows…

1. A “typical week” of TV on mainstream channels (Monday 23^rd to Sunday 29^th May 2016)
   

As it follows from above, national public Television (TV Slovenia) with its two programmes is the major provider of content related to history. What TV Slovenia offers is most comprehensive in this regard, since it covers the largest range of TV genres such as news programmes, documentaries, interviews, debates and educational programmes.  Other private or corporate broadcasters, which air a minimum of “serious” programmes, mainly in the genre of news broadcasts, more or less just “come across” historical subject matter. In these programmes there is no indication of any systematic approach and, therefore, history appears as a part of some specific news or even, more rarely, as a part of entertainment. Likewise, the entertainment productions in some quite atypical cases interlace amusement with some historical references. Of course, specific feature films or TV series can be related to history, but in the case of Slovenia the bulk of these shows comes from mighty Hollywood productions or some Latin American production of soap operas, known as “telenovelas”. Slovenian documentary and art films and series exist – the production of especially comedy and sitcom shows is growing in both public and private sector – but they represent a comparatively (paralleled for instance to the Italian, British or even Polish broadcasting) low percentage of the whole broadcasting time.

In our selection of programmes, which we watched and analysed in the week from 23^rd – 29^th May 2016, we tried to identify any historical content appearing in any genre. Of course, in some productions, which we followed, barely anything worth mentioning appeared.

Monday 23^rd May

TV Slovenia 1

News at 5 (Poročila ob 5^h) – daily programme

Duration: 17 – 17:15

No news related to history. This day all media reported from press conferences of the Member of Parliament Andrej Čuš, who left the main opposition party SDS (Slovenian Democratic Party). Unlike in later news bulletin and on some other channels, his statement on history was not reported.

Planet TV

PLANET today (Planet danes) – Daily News programme

Duration: 18:45 – 19:15

– MP Čuš’s exit from SDS is reported and one of the points of his explicit disagreement with the party is directly cited in the report. Čuš said that he has been fed up of “party’s constant dealing with history instead of current problems in the country.”

– The death of the Serbian cult film actor Bata Živojinović was mentioned in very similar way as in TV Slovenija 1 main news (cf. further down)

TV Slovenia 1 Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19 -19:29

-Andrej Čuš left the main opposition party SDS (Slovenian Democratic Party), because the Slovenian politics is dealing only with past and history instead of current problems in the country. The framework was typical news report.

-The death of the Serbian cult film actor Bata Živojinović, who played in about 80 Yugoslav films, notably in most popular feature Valter brani Sarajevo (Walter Defends Sarajevo – Hajrudin Krvavac, Bosna film, 1972), instigated mentioning of Yugoslav history. Also the role of Živojinović, who supported Serbian role in Yugoslav war in 1990s, and who later regretted his support, was briefly mentioned with some clips of his public statements. Narrator was partly visible, partly audible – there was voice over archival footage.

TV Slovenia 1 Slovenska kronika

Duration 19:30 – 19:45

In this “local news” format, which follows” evening news, some historical content can appear occasionally. Such case was this day’s report on the Slovenian Anne of Celje (1381 – 1416), Queen consort of Poland (1402–1416), on the occasion of opening the exhibition about here in Celje – the third largest city of Slovenia. The contribution consisted of some archival footage and narrator’s direct speaking to camera as well as in voice over.

POP TV

24 Hours (24 ur) – News programme (main daily bulletin)

Duration: 18.58 – 19:30

– Čuš’s exit from SDS was reported in the first section of the bulletin, but his statement “against history” wasn’t mentioned.

Planet TV

Bilo je nekoč (Once Upon a Time) – Reality show (sub-genre: “big brother”)

Duration: 22:20 – 23:30.

The programme is aired every day, briefly reporting on the “events” in the group of over ten people, who compete to stay in the show.

Although the title of the transmission prompts references to history, it can be stated that this reporting of the daily activities of the group, stationed on different locations in different weeks and in different “historical” ages, comes closer to ethnology than history. We can say summarily for the whole week that the reality show deals with some “old customs and traditions,” which are re-enacted in the group. For each part of the show the historical period is marked in more or less general terms (for instance, 200 years ago, time of peasants’ rebellions, etc.) and then participants must “live” the way in which it is supposed that people lived in the past. They have to perform different “traditional” activities without using modern equipment like, for example, cooking, housekeeping and so on.

TV Slovenia 1

Tednik (Weekly magazine)

Duration: 20:00 – 21:00

This programme, usually consisting of about five 10 – 15 minutes long “in depth” reports, sometimes evokes historical contexts in some contributions. This week the contribution on evictions of people, who are unable to pay the rent for their homes, mentioned that this is a relatively new phenomenon in Slovenia, missed the opportunity to refer to recent history under socialist regime. The contribution was based on interviews of emotionalised people, some speaking openly to the camera, others in a visual “fog” with modified voices.

TV Slovenia 1

Odmevi (Echos) – Kultura (Culture)

Duration 22:00 – 22:45

Added to late evening news and comments programme, a block on culture often presents historical events, important dates or developments. They happen to be reflected in art and through cultural events.  The death of the Serbian cult film actor Bata Živojinović, mentioned in the previous news programmes of the day was mentioned in a slightly enlarged format.

TV Slovenia 2

Spomini (Memories) – series of interviews with older persons (not always known public figures) who are reminiscing about their experiences of their lifetimes.

Duration: 23:05 – 23:50

This is a weekly regular contribution, produced by the regional studio of the Slovenian public TV in Maribor (the second largest city in the country). The interview this week portrayed Vida Kašpar Hauc, born 1931 in North-eastern part of Slovenia. Her narrative is full of very tragic events: her mother, who was active in the Partisan resistance, was arrested, tortured and confined in Ravensbrück concentration camp. Vida, just a teenaged child at the time, was left with her aunt. Her father and older sister were members of the Partisan movement as well. The Vida’s telling was full of details and descriptions of her personal feelings. Her descriptions of hard experiences during the war is followed by a stories of some strenuous experiences from the time early after the war.

Visualisation of the interview is rather simple: camera is throughout the duration of the interview fixed on interviewee’s face. In some instances some old photographs are inserted in the same frame. A few editing cuts, which makes the image to “jump” were noticeable. The interview otherwise ran as a telling and not as a series of answers to questions. Anyway, the broadcast is a case of presenting history, especially of the World War 2, from the perspective of “ordinary” people, who lived through difficult times.

Tuesday 24^th May

TV Slovenia 1 at 17^h and 19^h, POP TV and Planet TV in their main news blocks didn’t refer to history – not even in indirect way on this day. The same holds true for other news programmes of the day.

POP TV

Preverjeno (Verified) – Weekly broadcast, consisting of four to five reports, which could be taken as a combination of documentaries, news and comments.

Duration: 21:00 – 22:00.

The broadcast is as a rule twice interrupted by advertisements.

The fifth report within the broadcast resembled to a presentation of a historical content. However, due to the format of production within the framework set by this commercial TV, which dictates a search for stunning shows and presentations, this topic, could be marked as a presentation of the “unknown history and/or tradition.” Anyway, the 10 minutes long report discovered elements of a pre-Christian religions and beliefs still observed in the region of Primorska (West and South of Slovenia). The reporters talked to local amateur historians and ordinary people, who confirmed that some deities and idols from the old Slavic beliefs are making part of daily – mostly rural – spiritual environment. The authors of the report showed also typical carvings in stone on graveyards and house portals. The presentation quite correctly and succinctly in off-voice described the roots of the phenomena before giving word to the locals and their cultural environment, containing ancient symbols, which keep being reproduced nowadays.

TV Slovenia 1

Odmevi (Echos) – Kultura (Culture)

Duration 22:00 – 22:45

Among other culture news we found presentation of some recent history views. Croatian writer’s Kristian Novak’s translated book Črna mati zemlja (Black Mother Earth) about life in the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s in Medjimurje, the border region between Slovenia and Croatia, at the time of Yugoslavia was presented. The report contained few suggestive images between other audio-visual flows, which contained also a brief interview with the author.

TV Slovenia 1

Pričevalci (Witnesses) – series of interviews with older persons (as a rule not very known public figures) who are reminiscing about their experiences of their lifetimes and especially about events during and after the World War 2.

Duration: 23:05 – 00:55

The production of this series of interviews started on 1^st July 1914. All interviews are conducted by one journalist and Editor Jože Možina. This week’s “witness” was Ms Tatjana Rejec, who was presented as the wife of Albert Rejec, one of the founders of the presumably earliest anti-fascist organisation TIGR. This organisation was rooted in the Slovenian minority in (Mussolini’s) Italy. However, the interviewee married Rejec only after the war, and she took a deeper look in the history of the organisation only after the war. Through the interview, which contained a lot of personal memories and accounts of foreign occupation (1941 – 1945) of Ljubljana, a still controversial relationship of TIGR and communist led Partisan resistance was tackled. The history of TIGR also in this interview proved to be one of the chapters of complex relations in the region of Slovenia, which before the war was Italian territory and after the war a greater part of it became part of Yugoslavia. The approach of the author is quite simple as the whole relatively long interview is conducted in more or less fixed frame and usually shot in the interviewee’s home in which some pictures on the wall, books on shelves, etc. suggest the historical context. The author intervenes with his questions and guidance in the off voice. The production is obviously not devoid of the author’s own political inclinations and a tendency to interpret history from a contemporary viewpoint, especially regarding the role of the communist party in the events.

Wednesday, 25^th May

TV Slovenia 1

News at 5 (Poročila ob 5^h) – daily programme

Duration: 17 – 17:15

In a brief two and a half minutes long contribution on the NGO’s organised debate on precarious work, the camera catches few glimpses of the “decoration” of posters in the background, among which there was also the image of Rosa Luxemburg, signalling the inherited history of adoption of ideas of the class struggle, to which some participants in their short statements refer.

POP TV

24 Hours (24 ur) – News programme (main daily bulletin)

Duration: 18.58 – 19:30

One of the provocative topics re-appearing in the public political life is the name of Yugoslav President Tito “written” with stones on the slopes of mountain Sabotin, which overlooks Slovenian – Italian border at Nova Gorica and Gorizia. During almost every year the lettering on the mountain is destroyed by usually unknown opponents and then on 25^th of May, the birthday of Tito, which has been the “Youth day” in former Yugoslavia, the activists of a local society compile stones in a renewed inscription. The news were reported rather factually without commenting or ascribing any special meaning to the event.

TVS 1

Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19 -19:29

This day’s news were preoccupied with some sensational current events and – very indicatively – main national TV in its main news bulletin “forgot” to point out that 25^th May was a day of celebrations in former federal Yugoslavia.

TV Slovenia 1

Churchill’s Secret (2016) – biographical TV film (ITV), directed by Charles Sturridge.

Duration: 23:05 – 00:50

British produced and distributed (ITV) fictional film reveals a difficult moments of Winston Churchill’s mandate in 1950s. As the film suggests, the historically remarkable statesman, eighteen months before his actual resigning from government, suffered a series of strokes, but he was successfully healed by a dedicated nurse, to whom the title of the movie actually refers. The film concentrates mainly on pseudo biographical details and on members of Churchill’s family. The film, therefore, follows the rules of its genre, showing a “human side” of the great politician and historical figure. However, it also gives some information on the historical background and emits some hints about rather mild intrigue to take over Churchill’s position by some of his political “friends” within the Conservative Party.

Thursday 26^th

TVS 1 Profil (Profile)

Duration: 16:25 – 16:50

Guest Kristian Novak, presented here in a more extensive interview than in the “Kultura” two days before, speaks about his new book Črna mati zemlja (Black Mother Earth) – about life in the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s in Medjimurje. Interesting point that author made illustrates that the region under discussion had a different history than the rest of Croatia, since during World War 2 it was annexed to Hungary and so it did not belong to the Quisling State of the “Independent State of Croatia” under the rule of “Ustashi” (local fascist organisation).

TV Slovenia 1 in News at 5 and Evening News, Planet TV and POP TV were devoid of history in their news programmes on this particular day.

TV Slovenia 1

Odmevi (Echoes)

Duration 22:00 – 22:30

This late news bulletin evoked recent history on the occasion of reporting about ceremony of Slovenian Diplomacy Day, exposing in the narrated part of the contribution the role of diplomacy in acquiring the independence of Slovenia. Some footage from archives was used.

TV Slovenia 1

Kultura (Culture)

Duration 22:30 – 22:45

Opening of the exhibition about “Alexandrians” – Slovenian migrant women from the region of Gorizia – in Egypt in the first part of the 20th century, who served as wet nurses for mostly colonial employers’ children, especially at the time of the construction of Suez Canal, was an opportunity to present a special historical feature.

Friday 27^th May

 TV Slovenia 1

Na poti: dražgoškega pohoda (On the way: Dražgoše march) – documentary

1:15 p.m. -1:44 p.m.

Serial documentary, but without fixed days of months, when it is emitted. This particular film was about trekking tour in remembrance  of the Battle of Dražgoše (Slovenian: dražgoška bitka) – a World War 2 battle between the Slovenian Partisans and Nazi Germany armed forces, which took place between January 9 and January 11, 1942, in the village of Dražgoše in the northern part of Slovenia. The film is only in one part dedicated to history and in it some archival film footage and witnesses’ narrating was used. Among witnesses also some prominent individuals spoke (like, for example, former President of the Presidency of Slovenia before the country gained independence Janez Stanovnik) and, of course, a few local residents, who experienced the battle in their childhood. The other part of film described the march, which takes place each year.

TV Slovenia 1

News at 5 (Poročila ob 5^h)

Duration: 17 – 17:15

President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima was shown in a presentation from international resources in the anchor’s voice over, the event of the bombing of Hiroshima was indicated as well as the President’s statement in his speech concerning nuclear threat.

Planet TV and POP TV in their news programmes reported on the Obama’s visit to Hiroshima as well, but spent fewer seconds for the reporting.

TV Slovenia 1

Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19 -19:29

– The first history related report was, comparing to the report in News at 5, a bit extended coverage of Obama’s visit to Hiroshima. To the footage from global agencies, which comprised parts of the President’s speech (subtitled in Slovenian language), a voice-over comment, contributed by the local editor, was read. The circumstances of the event of atomic attack on Japan, which concluded the World War 2, were presented in quite general terms.

– The second history related report concerned the nearing national celebration. The post stamp was released by Slovenian Post for the special occasion – 25^th anniversary independence of Slovenia.

Saturday, 28^th May

TV Slovenia 1

News at 5 (Poročila ob 5^h) – daily programme

Duration: 17 – 17:15

The political party, now registered as Social Democracy (SD), celebrated 120 years anniversary. The news programme reported about the disagreement of the leader of retirees party (DESUS), who said that he couldn’t understand how a political party, existing in the country, which lasts less than 25 years as the independent state, can celebrate such anniversary.

Planet TV and POP TV in their main Daily News programmes didn’t come across any historical content.

TV Slovenia 1

Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19 -19:29

– Obviously due to an abundance of current events (for instance: release of the Slovenian human rights activist Tomo Križnar from prison in South Sudan), the only topics that slightly implied history were related – same as in News at 5 – to the celebration of 120 years anniversary of Social Democrats.

Sunday, 29^th May

TV Slovenia 1

News at 5 (Poročila ob 5^h) – daily programme

Duration: 17 – 17:15

-Important news with the historical background was the meeting of President Holland and Kanzler Angela Merkel at the occasion of 100 years anniversary of the battle of Verdun.

-Next news involving history was a meeting of participants and veteran’s organisation members at the occasion of 74^th anniversary of the battle of Janče (Central Slovenia), which is one of the well-remembered event from World War 2. In the over a minute long report more or less general statements on the importance of remembrance of the liberation struggle, fought by partisans, were uttered by accidental speakers.

Planet TV

PLANET today (Planet danes) – Daily News programme

Duration: 18:45 – 19:15

The news from the Verdun meeting were screened. Global news agencies’ footage was used without any comment concerning local history.

POP TV

24 Hours (24 ur) – News programme (main daily bulletin)

Duration: 18.58 – 19:30

The programme was so saturated by more or less scandalous news concerning health system and some criminal investigations. Therefore, this edition of the programme missed to report even on the Verdun meeting.

TV Slovenia 1

Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19 -19:29

Similar to the report in News at 5, the meeting between the French and German top officials at Verdun was covered.

TV Slovenia 1

Čudež v Leipzigu / Das Wunder von Leipzig – Wir sind das Volk (2009) – documentary, directed by Sebastian Dehnhardt and Matthias Schmidt. Produced by German TV studios, ARTE and others.

Duration: 22:40 – 23:35.

The documentary, which as a quite standard product of its kind, was edited from original footage from mainly 9^th October 1989, which was  combined with a number of narrations of the participants of the events, tells a story of civil up-rising in East Germany (DDR). The demonstrations in Leipzig brought forward a famous slogan Wir sind das Volk (We are the People), which marked the movements that ultimately lead to the German unification. The screening of the documentary this day was the second screening on TV Slovenia.

2. A “typical week” of TV on the History Channel

As mentioned in the first section of this overview, Slovenia has not its own specialised “history channel”. Programmes related to history can be mostly found on two channels of the National public TV. Corporate channels stick to entertainment and they come across history only in their news bulletins and “unintentionally” in some particular feature films or TV-series.

PART II ANALYSIS OF SELECTED DAYS

A more in-depth description of the TV offer on historically significant days.

3. The end of World War 2

26^th April 2016

TV Slovenia 1

Od večne poti do Tivolija – 70 let od ustanovitve OF (From Perennial way to Tivoli – 70th anniversary of the Liberation Front) – Documentary

Duration: 21:00 – 21:55.

Since the formal day of the Victory over Fascism, which is celebrated in Slovenia the same day as the Europe Day – 9^th May – didn’t motivate Slovenian TV stations to broadcast anything substantial, we are taking the case of the documentary, which on the eve of the official celebration of the Day of the Rebellion against Occupiers through discourses of the interviewer and interviewees, merged the beginning of the World War 2 and its end. Different reactions of the Slovenian people and different social actors and institutions after the 1941 invasion of the German, Italian and Hungarian troops – each taking a defined region of the country – are always interpreted in view of the end of the war in 1945 and its aftermath. Therefore, we saw this documentary as a significant media reflection on the segment of history, which happens to be a matter of a cacophony of interpretations, interested political projections from today’s perspectives, and, last but not least, intended, calculated or unintended revisions, exaggerations, modifications, manipulations, etc. of the historical facts. Unfortunately, historians in general still didn’t form a detached view, on which they could agree. However, a majority of historians support the view, which is based on a presupposition that Slovenia, in spite of its traumatic civil war, participated powerfully and quite autonomously – in an alliance with the whole Yugoslav Partisan resistance – in the largescale European and American effort to overpower fascism and Nazism. Therefore, a prevalent view is that Slovenia should count itself in the coalition of victors of the World War 2.  But after the end of communism and the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia, a rather strong voice in politics and among some historians was given to a different interpretation, which try to construct history anew: the collaboration with occupiers, supported by the Catholic Church in the main province of Slovenian territory is considered as an opposition to communist lead partisan movement. This interpretation acquires some legitimisation due to the extensive purge of “collaborators” after the war, which resulted, according to highest estimates, in more than twenty thousand executions.

Considering this background, the documentary,  aired on the 70th anniversary of the Liberation Front, produced by TV Slovenia and entitled From Perennial way to Tivoli, highlighted a four-year operation of Liberation Front (Osvobodilna Fronta – OF). OF was an organisation that sparked and led the anti-fascist resistance in Slovenia. The show involved historians and publicists Janko Prunk, Božo Repe, Tamara Griesser Pečar, Bojan Godeša, Peter Kovačič Peršin, Spomenka Hribar, France Bučar and two key Front activists Janez Stanovnik and Bogdan Osolnik. Author of the text and the script was Lado Ambrožič. The Perennial Way (Večna pot) is the name of the street in Ljubljana, where the house, in which a meeting of representatives of anti-fascist groups took place on the 26^th or 27^th April, 1941 (the exact date is a matter of disputes). A number of interviews with historians and other speakers in the documentary took place in front of the house. Others were shot in the city park Tivoli, where is the Museum of Contemporary History. The discourses were interwoven with archive photographs and some segments of films from the time of World War 2 in Slovenia. The documentary was conventional considering its form – it provided moving pictures, documents and photographic evidence for talks. The authors of the documentary took care not to subvert different discourses by some means of editing as, for example, suggesting opposite meaning by picture to what a speaker enunciated. As for the content, the majority of interviewees, although with different nuances, emphasised the importance of the meeting at the Perennial Way, where indisputably the Communist Party representatives succeeded to unify different “patriotic currents” under the umbrella of the Liberation Front. Inversely especially the historian Tamara Griesser Pečar considered the meeting to be a “Soviet plot” for the Communist revolution and she stressed that the very name of Liberation Front has been invented later in the process, since at the time the “plotters” formed the “Anti-imperialist Front”. In the part of the documentary, in which the interviewees were paying attention to different stages of the war and to the events soon after it, these differences were expanded. The atrocities, committed by occupiers (hostage shootings, expulsions of thousands of people, transports to concentration camps etc.), also supported by home based collaborating forces, were stressed by most speakers. In the cases of a continuation of killing after the formal end of the war, different explanations were given on one hand and harsh condemnations on the other. The question on what was the sense of resistance – national liberation or communist revolution – remains open and a matter of the contemporary political reasoning within different political trends, as well as within such historical actors as the Catholic Church.

Although we could not present many nuances of the statements pronounced in the documentary, we can say that the authors did succeed to expose the complexities of the events, which are the ground for antagonisms between politically supported competing different interpretations of history. The documentary demonstrated that Slovenia happens to be one of those European countries, where national reconciliation seems to be impossible for the time being.

4. National Remembrance Day
   

Slovenia actually looks back at two historical episodes in its modern history: one is, as elsewhere in Europe, World War 2 and the second is its acquiring of the national independence in 1991. Both are controversial matters in the public life, which is clearly reflected also in visual media and internet. Considering that Slovenia as an independent country has quite short history, the events, which happened only two and a half decades ago, have the appearance of high importance and historical decisiveness. Therefore, among a few other national celebrations of particular stages on the way to independence from the federal Yugoslavia, The Statehood Day (Dan državnosti), celebrated on 25^th June, is especially highly valued. This means that this day can be marked as the national Remembrance Day, the day, when discourses of national identity, unity and pride are quite outspoken in the public sphere. The Statehood Day in 2016 had a special prominence due to the fact that in this year there was a 25^th anniversary of declaring the independence by the Slovenian Parliament. The gesture was followed by the intervention of the Yugoslav army, and after some traumatic events, after relatively quick agreement on the end of hostilities, Slovenia accomplished most of attributes of sovereignty in the same year 1991.

The majority of daily news contributions reported about celebrations in Slovenia and abroad of the 25th anniversary of independence of Slovenia. They mostly summarized preparations and events during the central celebration and also other such activities. Historical events were recapitulated with archive video materials showing more or less famous moments from the time of the independence war. The contributions were more or less related to protocol aspects of the central celebration. Mainly invited representatives of the government were commenting on events linked to 25th anniversary, Prime Minister and Ministers, businessmen and Constitutional Court judges and some prominent politicians from the time of the struggles for independence, in particular from the right wing political option. Comments did not exceed the normal day to day observations of the situation in Slovenia. Among the events of 25 years ago primarily conflicts with the Yugoslav government (so called “10 days war”) and the process of implementing the independence were exposed. In all programmes they did not attempt to present a broader context of developments in the e1980s in Yugoslavia, which led to Slovenia’s independence. Also, there wasn’t any in-depth analysis of important issues and decisions that have been created in time of independence, and of their implications today. National TV also did not make any special documentaries, which would have any special artistic value or would represent in-depth contribution on the context of events during the process.

The media reflected the impression of importance of the anniversary on one hand, but also a number of controversies on the other hand, since many actors in the historical drama are still active in politics and public life and they, of course, developed different views on their own roles in the events. Days preceding the celebrations of 25^th June brought some mediatic preparations for the occasion mainly in the news programmes. Especially national public television reported on preparations for the celebration; it paid some attention to dignitaries and “ordinary people”, who reminisced about the events 25 years ago.

In what follows we give description of the main contributions on two days of celebrations 24^th and 25^th June 2016.

Thursday, 23^rd June

TV Slovenia1 – first afternoon news

Duration: 13 – 13:20

They had reported on celebrations in Berlin to mark the 25th anniversary of Slovenia’s independence. Celebration highlighted the Slovenian participation in the EU. The contribution included the presentation of the artistic performers and the statements of the German Minister for the EU and representative of the Association of the German-Slovenian friendship.

TV Slovenia 1

Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19 -19:29

A report of artillery preparations for salvoes performance was screened, which was meant as a contribution of the armed forces to the central celebration of the Statehood Day. The programme also introduced the government report about how the standard of living in the last 25 years has been improved, according to more or less positive statistics. The primary school students’ in Kanal na Soči manifestation were shown:  with open umbrellas in relevant colours they created a live image of the Slovenian flag.

POP TV

24 Hours (24 ur) – News programme (main daily bulletin)

Duration: 18.58 – 19:30

The programme consisted of:

– Report on preparations for the State celebration on the eve of the Statehood Day: typical montage of images of the location of celebration (the Congress square) and announcement of the programme of the ritual.

– Visit of the Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović is reported. In the voice-over some aspects of common history of Slovenia and Croatia within Yugoslavia are mentioned, but without any visual references

– One contribution in a form of brief visual essay narrates about an attempt to invent a Slovenian currency (Lipa – meaning linden tree, which has a traditional symbolic connotation) by a pseudonymous “Hamurabi” at the time, when Yugoslavia was near the end of its existence.

– The news programme also reports on the conflict due to different interpretations of history 25 years ago. The political parties, considered to be right wing (now in opposition or extra parliamentary) prepared their own celebration the day after the “official” celebration. The news in mainly verbal report describe a split among would-be organisers. Therefore, only the biggest opposition party and some so called civil society activists remain as organisers of the “alternative celebration”.

TV Slovenia 1

Globus – weekly comment on politics and society

Duration: 21:00 – 21:25

The programme, which brings weekly commenting on global events, this time opened a view on a part of history from 25 years ago concerning the Slovenian minority in neighbouring countries: Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Short interviews with representatives of minorities in respective regions reflected on the notion of the historical change 25 years ago, which affected the position of the minority. Visually some important sites (like buildings of offices of Slovenian associations, schools, monuments, statues, etc.), which mark the Slovenian identity in places like Trieste, Klagenfurt, etc. were integrated into the footage before, during and after interviews. An expert from the National Institute of Ethnic Studies commented on the impact of historic events on the national minorities’ future.

TV Slovenia 1

Odmevi (Echoes)

Duration 22:00 – 22:30

– Prime Minister Miro Cerar and the prime minister of the first independent government Lojze Peterle were invited to the studio. The conversation has been some kind of evaluation of the last 25 years of independence. Both guests more or less remained within their political ideological frames through which they looked at the period of independence.

– After this they reported also on the affair of an “alternative celebration”. The day after the official celebration of 25^th anniversary of independence of Slovenia part of the right wing opposition, supported by some conservative societies, held their own celebration. Lojze Peterle, who was meant to be the main speaker on this celebration, was replaced by another speaker, which reflected controversies within this political current in Slovenia. These controversies are related to different interpretations of recent history, especially concerning the roles of personalities and political and civil movements in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

There was also report about the Slovenian contribution to the worlds of sports, business, science, culture, etc. The reportage was invested by journalists’ fervently patriotic comments in terms of how some individuals contributed to “consolidation of Slovenian self-confidence and national pride.”

Then they reported about the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the independence of Slovenia at Brdo pri Kranju, the location of many stately events. This was followed by an interview with the President of the Constitutional Court Miroslav Mozetič about implementation of what was written into the Constitution.

Late news were completed by report on preparations for the main official celebration of the independence of Slovenia. 25 years ago, for example, there was no absolute certainty about how the new Slovenian flag would look like.

TV Slovenia 1

Agencija za resnico, 20 let Slovenske tiskovne agencije, dokumentarna oddaja (Agency of Truth, 20 years of Slovenian news agency)

Documentary 22:00 – 22:30

The film (first screened five years ago) is a short documentary about the history of establishment of Slovenian State News Agency (STA). The documentary focuses on the importance of STA role in the process of gaining the independence. Narration provided mostly historical facts about the establishment of the first news agencies in the world and in Slovenia.  In addition, statements by the politicians and the journalists and others, who participated in the process of establishment of STA, were inserted in the film. These statements and narratives were supported by video archive footage.

Friday, 24^th June

TV Slovenia 1

Brez reza (No Cuts) – series of lectures and debates on social, political and historical issues without fixed position in the schedule

Duration: 14:30 – 15h

The transmission was a lecture of highly esteemed professor of history (University of Trieste and University of Primorska, Koper) Jože Pirjevec in an ex cathedra format (quite similar to many YouTube lectures) on the last years (1989 until the secession of Slovenia) of Yugoslavia and on the circumstances of the Slovenian impendence acts. The lecture was presented by a static camera with only a few insertions of images of the audience.

TV Slovenia 1

News at 5 (Poročila ob 5^h) – daily programme

Duration: 17 – 17:15

– History in the making met history of yore, one could say about this news broadcast. Slovenian 25^th anniversary of celebrating the Statehood Day coincided with the announcing of the result of “Brexit” and so the presenter, reporting from the site of the anticipated celebration, could not avoid commenting on this coincidence.

– A parallel celebration of 200 years of public musical education in Slovenia was presented by images from a musical school.

TV Slovenia 1

Medijska vojna – padec tabujev, dokumentarna oddaja (Media war – The Fall of Taboos) Documentary

Duration 17: 35 – 18:30

A short documentary was about the work and reporting of Slovenian journalists, particularly those from the national radio-television as well as main print media during the independence war. The documentary is based primarily on narratives and statements by the journalists and photo reporters active at that time. All this is supported by archival video footage.  They also gave a wider view on the risks of war journalism in the context of the death of Slovenian journalist Ivo Štandekar, who fell due to artillery fire in the besieged Sarajevo in 1990s.

TV Slovenia 1

Vojna za Slovenijo, dokumentarna oddaja (War for Slovenia)

Documentary

Duration: 18:30 – 19:00

Another short documentary followed and it summarized the events at the time of the War for Independence and just before it. The film was somewhat oversimplified and it gave just some basic information with a dramatic tone, which was supported by some “spectacular” archival footage.

TV Slovenia 1

Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19 -19:29

The news programme, which was the main national programme that reported extensively on the celebration of The Statehood Day reported about preparation for celebrations from the square, where the actual celebration took place. We give more extensive description of this reporting in section 10 of this presentation.

POP TV

24 Hours (24 ur) – News programme (main daily bulletin)

Duration: 18.58 – 19:30

Similarly as Slovenia 1 News of the day, this programme brought up reflections on the coinciding of the Slovenian Statehood Day and British “Brexit”.

TV Slovenia 1

Odmevi (Echoes)

Duration 22:00 – 22:30

They reported about the main celebration of Statehood Day and other special events as a solemn session of the National Assembly, the reception at President of Slovenia for the relatives of the killed, the mass for the homeland and the dispute around the keynote speaker for the “alternative celebration” of Statehood Day.

TV Slovenia 2

TV arhiv (TV archive)

Interview

Duration: 21:45 – 22:30

The main topic of the conversation with the guest Tone Hočevar was talk about how he as a journalist and editor of evening news Dnevnik on national Television experienced key events and moments of the War for Independence 25 years ago.

TV Slovenia 2

Polnočni klub: Slovenija – 25 let kasneje (Midnight Club: Slovenia – 25 Years Later)

Late night talk show

Duration: 22:35 – 23:55

Guests of the talk show were young people around 30 years old from different parts of Slovenia, including representatives of the Slovenian minority in the neighbouring countries, from different professions, educational grades, world views, etc. The idea for the talk show was one of more creative contributions to the celebration of 25^th anniversary of the State. But unfortunately the editor/journalist did not surpass usual clichés addressing the issues. So the conversation moved in a framework of a rather simplified understanding of issues in the Slovenian society today as well as in recent history.

Saturday, 25^th June

Some reactions, reporting, echoes of the celebrations and some manifestations through the day were mainly visible in the programs of National public TV.

TV Slovenia 1

News at 5 (Poročila ob 5^h) – daily programme

Duration: 17 – 17:15

The news encompassed the report on the “alternative celebration”, organised by the so called Association for the Values ​​of Independence and some disputes around initially anticipated keynote speakers Lojze Peterle, who is a historical personality since he has been the Prime Minister at the time of the dramatic events, after which Slovenia gained its Statehood.

Next report showed the ceremonial laying of wreath by the President of the Republic and Minister of Defence in the context of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of independence at Žale (central cemetery in Ljubljana) for those who were killed in the war for independence.

TV Slovenia 1

Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19 -19:29

– A summary of main celebrations was given, along with accidental assembled statements and impressions of visitors and performers.

– The “alternative celebration” of Statehood Day and the squabbling between actors were summarised as well.

– A historical role of the police was mentioned by showing the President of the Republic Borut Pahor’s awarding the police officers, who were wounded in the War for Independence.

-The final input consisted of a montage of images of delightful moments in the recent history of Slovenia.

5. The Day of Reunification of Prekmurje with the Homeland

Slovenia celebrates some historical events, which in different historical periods contributed to the definition of the ethnic territory and the sense of identity of the country. The Day of Reunification of Primorska with the Homeland and The Day of Reunification of Prekmurje with the Homeland are marked in the calendar of national memorial days, but they are not work free days. We decided to look at Slovenian TV on how the events on the “Prekmurje Day” was recorded. We deemed that such Memorial Day, which relates to time and space (or territory), illustrates a mode, in which the existing European countries mostly construct their self-image by highlighting certain moments in history as especially decisive. Unfortunately, such decisive days mark most often military or other forms of overpowering other nations. They also keep alive different myths of some aspect of national superiority.

17^th August is The Day of Reunification Prekmurje with the Homeland, which marks the event of a demonstration by 20.000 inhabitants of the North-Eastern region of Slovenia, who demanded their uniting of the formerly Hungarian dominated territory to the just created new Kingdom of Slovenians, Croats and Serbs (so called first Yugoslavia) soon after the World War 1. We are reporting here only about National public TV’s reporting and commenting, since other channels (POP TV and Planet TV) only minimally reported on the official gestures by the nation’s high representatives.

TV Slovenia 1

News at 5 (Poročila ob 5^h) – daily programme

Duration: 17 – 17:15

The news heralded that the Reunification Day of Prekmurje was just about to be solemnised in the office of the President of the Republic. Prior to that at 11 and 13 hours the palace was open for the visitors. On this occasion, the presidential palace held a cultural program. “In front of the Presidential Palace,” the reporter said “will be lined up the Guard of honour of the Slovenian Armed Forces.” Not much else was commented as visually images of the building were flashed.

TV Slovenia 1

Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19:00 -19:45

The “Day of Prekmurje” was not mentioned in the first main part of the News, but in the second part (the Chronicle), which is more focused on local events in Slovenia.  Hence, there was a report from Prekmurje, where festivities took place few days before the actual date. Above all, there was a report about the visit of the President of the Republic to Prekmurje and about his summoning for raising a level of patriotism – or, in his words: love of the homeland.

TV Slovenia 1

Odmevi (Echoes)

Duration 22:00 – 22:30

Late evening news programme at first duly reported on the ceremony in the presidential palace some three hours before the beginning of this news edition. Report stressed a need for national unity, of which “we should be reminded on days such as this one.”

What followed after this, rose above such routine reporting. History was “allowed” to be presented in more real terms and in its complexity. The anchor of the news declared that there are always many sides of historic events as well as different views on them. The editors of the programme should be commended for their sense of balanced reporting in this case. The whole block on the Reunification Day of Prekmurje, consisting of explanation of the historical events not long after the end of World War 1 and the interview and comments in the studio, resulted in a piece of media presentation, which could be very well used for teaching history in the Slovenian schools. Hence, it was said that what was a reason for jubilation on one side, has been a reason for pain for the other side. Historical maps were shown and it was visible that many Hungarian villages (with some 14.000 inhabitants) near the at the time new border were allotted to the Kingdom of SHS (actually to Slovenia). In fact, also a few Slovenian villages remained on the Hungarian side. Important element of this reporting was that the subsequent Slovenian repression and maltreatment of Hungarians was described. As a result about half of Hungarian population moved consequently to Hungary. For those Hungarians, who remained in the territory, only in 1970s Yugoslavia (Slovenia) granted a full recognition of their status as the ethnic minority. Interview with Ferenc Horvath, the President of the Hungarian National Group in Slovenia, followed. He explained that the traumatic memories of the past prevent Hungarians to celebrate together with Slovenians the Day of Reunification, but he appealed for genuine European policies, which should take ethnic minorities as agents of building understanding and co-operation between nations.

PART III ANALYSIS OF SELECTED TV PROGRAMS

6. The most popular TV programme related to history.

Except for three days a year, which are marked as important for Slovenian Nation and State (these days are also celebrated and they are work free) and some other historic days (for example 1^st May), history related programmes in the form of locally produced or imported documentaries, interviews, talk shows (debates), news reports and educational genres, appear mainly on the National public TV programme. Therefore, there was not much to choose in deciding the “most popular TV programme related to history”. Except the specialised global channels like History Channel or Viasat History, only heavily politically biased and still just an obscure “experimental” Nova TV24 pays attention to history beside National public TV.

Although ancient history – which in case of Slovenia means above all the period starting after settlements of Slav tribes following the fall of Roman Empire – is quite agreed upon by historians, it is sometimes disputed by some new, as a rule unsubstantiated “theories” about a “real” origin of the Slovenian ethnicity, which according to such theories is “non-Slav”. Academic history usually declines any discussion with such suppositions, but they occasionally find their way to the media. In some obscure cable TV programmes and on internet “anything goes”.

A part of Slovenian historiography, which is more or less following the Leopold von Ranke paradigm of historic science, could be seen by critical observers as a source of a fusion of myths and facts especially for the periods of Ottoman expansion across the Balkans. Of course, there are also some traces of what was supposed to be a “Marxist” historiography in some Slovenian historians’ views. Not only the influences of different methodologies and doctrines of “what is history” in Slovenia, but also some complex contextual reasons and backgrounds of different approaches to history in Slovenia, disempower Slovenian historiography to intervene with a stronger academic authority in the Slovenian public disputes. Especially two decisive historic periods are matters of strong disputes: (1) the role of resistance and collaboration with the occupying forces during World War 2 (particularly including the events following the victory of “communists”) and (2) events from relatively recent history following the fall of Berlin wall, which for Slovenia meant the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia and attaining of Slovenian independence in 1991. As the first topic is traumatic and basically inexorably contentious, the second represents a case of antagonistic attempts of appropriation of history for some political factions. Not unimportant element, which thwarts efforts for a consensus about recent history, are some unclarified narratives from the period immediately after the World War 2, which concerns neighbouring nations, especially Italy, but also in some respects Austria.

Our description of various contributions related to history in this presentation is a quite accurate reflection of the situation in the visual media in Slovenia. From our accounts on “typical week” and particular days it is clear that National TV Slovenia 1 and also Slovenia 2 (which often serves as a programme for repetitions) make an offer of documentaries, talk shows, interviews and educational programmes related to history. As it follows from the previous paragraph, a combined obstacles of historiography, political and public currents, makes the job of the media quite demanding. We can comment that reactions in public sphere to particular TV programmes are often quite vivid and polemical.

7. The most popular TV documentary type programme on the End of WW2.
   

We have not much to add to what we wrote about this topic in the 4^th section of this presentation. The documentary From the Perennial Way to Tivoli as a highly professional TV documentary could be taken as the most “popular”. It was also screened in the prime time on the main public programme and it was also repeated on the other channel (Slovenia 2). It is highly probable that it reached between 20 and 30% of viewers.

8. The most popular TV documentary type programme on the National Remembrance Day.
   

TV Slovenia 1 – 21^st June,

Slovenia à la Greta Garbo (2016) – Documentary by Dejan Ladika (writer) and Siniša Gačić (director).

Production: TV Slovenija

Duration: 20:55 – 21:55 hours

Among different contributions, one was obviously more ambitious and it demonstrated a higher degree of uncovering “real history”. A bit trendy mediatic approach was reflected by the title of the documentary Slovenia a la Greta Garbo, which was shown in the prime time on TV Slovenia 1. The authors of the documentary took advantage of opening of some diplomatic archives. The documentary was a montage of different recordings of the events and personalities (photos, visual documents of a range of genres, but mainly news reports from the time) and readings of, until recently, publicly unknown records of meetings between some world leaders of the time that touched upon the problem of Yugoslavia. The documentary also included some brief interviews of the Slovenian politicians (President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs) and some political journalists, who offered they comments on their own experiences. The title was taken from a conversation between the American Ambassador Warren Zimmerman and Slovenian politicians at the time, when Slovenian aspirations for independence were already manifest. The title was related to his perception of a special position of Slovenia as one of the Federal republics of Yugoslavia. The documentary actually cited some debates between such decisive leaders as George Bush Sr., Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterrand, Francesco Cossiga to name just a few. The film made a point that European and world leaders – actually starting from supporting the integrity of Yugoslavia – later hesitated about what should be done about the country, which faced the end of communism and uncertain future of democracy. The emphases on the elements of the historical credibility of the documentary contributed to a lesser exposing of the patriotic signifiers by presenting the roles of Slovenian actors as not always absolutely clear. Through the words of the then Prime Minister Lojze Peterle it was evident that the country had some luck, but it took “advantage of the moment, when history had smiled to it”.

9. The main news broadcast on National Remembrance Day.
   

TV Slovenia 1

Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19 -19:29

– The National TV reported about the final preparations for the main ceremony on the statehood day, which was about to take place the same evening. This Evening news were not anchored in the studio but on the stage where the ceremony followed soon subsequently.

– They have reported on the reception, given to relatives of victims of the independence war in Slovenia at the premises of the President of the country Borut Pahor. Some crude historical facts about the events were given in the voice-over presentation. We could indicate only some hints signalling the complexities of the historical situation at the time, when “single party rule” was coming to its end and the federation, of which Slovenia made part of, has been about to be demolished.

– This was followed by a contribution, based on the archive video material, about the announcement of the Declaration of Independence on 25^th June 1991 and the subsequent War for Independence. A brief interview with Tone Hočevar, who was editor of Evening News at the time concluded the contributions related to the Statehood Day within this programme. In this segment of the television flow, we can indicate an interesting reflection of the media on its own role in the events.

10. The main news broadcast on Europe Day

9^th May 2016

TV Slovenia 1

Dnevnik (Evening news)

Duration: 19 -19:29

– The Europe Day and the Victory Day over Fascism coincide in Slovenia. It is indicative that neither of both “days” was given any attention in all news programmes in Slovenia, except indirectly. The correspondent from Moscow reported in voice-over the footage – probably available from the Russian press agency – about the military parade on this day in Moscow. She pointed out that the date marks very important memory for the Russian people, who sacrificed 27 million lives for victory in the World War 2.

– The omitting of any other reporting, which could be regarded as a flop for a main news programme, became a bit more explainable within the same news programme, as a report on strong disagreements in the Council of the National Radio television regarding the naming of the Director General of the institution was reported about, was screened. The newsflash showed the “silent” protest by journalists, who entered the room, where the Council had its dealings, with their demands for free reporting written on the posters.

TV Slovenia 1

Glasbeni večer (Musical Evening) – recording of the concert.

Evropa Ljubljani – Ljubljana Evropi (Europe to Ljubljana – Ljubljana to Europe)

Duration: 23.40 – 00:55

Differing from the years before the financial crisis (when EU was more popular), this year the only accentuation of the Europe Day, was a night broadcasting of a public concert in the main square of Ljubljana dedicated to this day.

Final remarks

Different, traumatising and utterly opinionated narratives, more often than not supported by some historians, make a task of the educational agents and media to work in an “impartial” manner in their presentations of history very difficult.

In the Slovenian lower and higher secondary school curriculum, as it seems, the authors, who include practicing teachers of history, manage to avoid direct exposure of pupils to the conflicting views in public sphere. Therefore, the presentation of “goals and contents” in the curriculum documents indicates important concepts and phenomena, which should be distinguished and recognised as, for instance, “forms of family in 19^th century,” “migrations,” a “role of sciences”, etc. As for more “complex” periods the curriculum is relatively open and encourages a degree of autonomy of teachers, but it sets “Standards of Knowledge” for each of four grades. Among common standards to all four “stages” a skill for “different forms of communication,” which includes modern audio-visual and internet resources, is to be found. In the chapter on “Didactic Recommendations” teachers are encouraged to use different methods and to co-operate with institutions such as museums, libraries, etc. Cross-curricular links are also specified with most of other educational programs, but somewhat more significantly with geography and citizenship education.

Slovenian media – audio-visual media are most influential among them – tend to “take sides” especially concerning different views about the World War 2 and its aftermath. This does not make a task of utilizing current media production for educational purposes by no means easy. Our own following of the Slovenian media, which is presented in this report, in many instances illustrates this point. Since Slovenian public TV is a main organisation that not only broadcast imported programmes, but also manufactures and/or enables a creation of programmes in different applicable genres related to history, our presentation of particular audio-visual programmes relies mostly on its contributions.

References:

Benjamin, Walter (1969). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, in: Illuminations. New York: Schocken.

Ministrstvo za kulturo, Direktorat za medije [Ministry of Culture, Directorate for Media] (2014). Pregled medijske krajine v Sloveniji [Overview of Media Landscape in Slovenia]. Ljubljana. (Official report published by the Ministry).

Pušnik, Maruša (2008). Udomačenje Televizije na Slovenskem – Javne in zasebne arbe televizije v zgodovinski perspektivi [Domestication of Television in Slovenia – Public and Private Uses of Television in a Historical Perspective]. The Public – Javnost Vol. XV, December, 2008, pp. 113 – 132.

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