End of the kiss with Prime Minister Fico. The case of presenter Majtánová forces STVR to change rules and contracts
The participation of a well-known face of public television at a party celebration and its subsequent removal from the screen opened up an important question on the grounds of the STVR Council.
The case, which resonated in the media space at the beginning of May, has its finale on the highest levels of public broadcasting. The longtime presenter of the daily show became the face of the problem Karin Majtánová. She appeared in the position of moderator at the May Day party celebrations in Bánovce nad Bebravou, organized by the government party Smer-SD.
The situation came to a head when the presenter called the coalition politicians to the stage and at the end of the event she called on Prime Minister Robert Fico to symbolically kiss her on the occasion of May 1st. The Prime Minister accepted her call.
However, the problem was that STVR did not know in advance about the engagement of its face at a political party event. The public broadcaster took the presenter off the air for a month which he officially justified by violating the employee’s code of ethics.
The same meter for everyone?
It was Karin Majtánová’s misstep that became one of the main topics in the order of the sixth session of the STVR Council. Council member Igor Gallo opened the discussion on the setting of internal rules and the code of ethics.
He turned to the television management with a direct question that alluded to the fact that Majtánová, like many other faces from the screen, does not work at STVR on a permanent basis.
Gallo began with a description of the case, that it was a presenter who “spoke at some party event and was punished by being withdrawn for some time,” he responded in connection with her withdrawal from the screens.
Gall was interested in how the barriers are set for outsiders who shape the image of the public media as much as internal employees. “I want to ask if you have the same yardstick for everyone. As far as I know, the lady in question is not an internal employee,” Gallo said.
He further appealed to whether the institution has a contract with the presenter at all, containing “some clause that, with regard to the status of program workers… or the code of ethics,” clearly defines what the external face can and cannot afford.
The director promises strictness, Majtánová received a fair punishment
Source: Aktuality
