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.