In terms of the size of its audience, television is the most popular form of broadcasting in Slovakia. More than 70 % of the population watches television every single day, which ranks the Slovak people to the most devoted television audience in the world (“V sledovani televizie sme svetova spicka”). The quality of a television channel is however not measured by the number of its viewers. It is more important that a television channel features a credible, objective and impartial form of broadcasting. Concerning the Slovak channels, there are several reasons why these criteria are not completely fulfilled. Firstly, the advertising market in Slovakia being very small, there are only few channels and there is no competition between television channels. Secondly, the coverage of the news in the most popular television station in the country lacks the elements of impartiality. Finally, the financial situation of the national television channel is alarming. Due to the absence of the most significant attributes of quality, the respectability of the Slovak television is rather deficient.
To give the viewer the chance to choose between several stations, it is absolutely necessary to have a substantial advertising market, where a certain rivalry between channels could take place. The limited capacity of the Slovak market and the negative financial situation of national television have however allowed the independent Television Markiza, which started to broadcast in 1996, to gain a supreme domination, since it occupies almost 54 % of the market (“TV Markiza stale najsledovanejsou televiziou”). Having no other equivalent, the domination of Television Markiza is rather a negative fact, since it presents subjective points of views, which might sufficiently influence the opinions of its viewers. The most important attribute of a respectable medium is its objectivity and impartiality at the coverage of news and current affairs. To form their own opinion, viewers should get an objective and impartial presentation of the news. In Slovakia, the extreme popularity of Television Markiza has lead to the establishment of a political party ANO by the owner of this television. This fact had its reflection on the party’s presentation in the main news broadcast of the television.

In the monitored period of 6 months in the year 2001, Television Markiza allocated almost five times more time to cover the activities of ANO than the time allotted to the same party by the national television station. Furthermore, ANO was the only political party portrayed on Television Markiza exclusively in a positive light (“Presentation of the political party ANO in the main news broadcasts in TV Markíza and Slovak TV”). The positive presentation of the party’s work has been reflected also in the national election in the year 2002, where it received more than 9% of the votes and became one of the governing parties.
The respectability of television as a form of broadcasting can hardly be improved as long as the national television system of the country does not function properly. Its non-functioning is caused by the financial crisis in which the television industry has found itself during the last decade. The indebtedness of Slovak television to Slovak Telecom, which provides the frequency enabling broadcasting, reached in 1999 almost half a million Slovak crowns, which is the highest amount since its existence. The unfavourable financial situation has also had its effects on the popularity of the national channel itself, since the programmes that it offers to people are often thematically uninteresting and their quality is rather depleted.
To conclude, the characteristics that each television station must have to be fully respected by people are often missing in the Slovak channels. Due to the preference of personal interests of Television Markiza’s managers and the huge deficit of Slovak television, the Slovak channels are far from being regarded as trustworthy. Being watched by millions of people does not make a television channel respectable, it is more important that it is regarded as a credible and reliable source of information.

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Unrespectability of the Slovak Television Channels