"I recognize hate speech in this cover page. I see intolerance and a way of communication that would have to be foreign to the society I am part of," commented clinical psychologist Aleksander Zadel for TV Slovenija.
The Slovene Association of Journalists deems it an unethical, ideological abuse of the media, according reports TV Slovenija journalist Eugenija Carl.
"Such covers are not intended only toward promoting intolerance, but they need to be called out by their real name, and that is racism. This is not a discussion that would be aimed at discussing integration or migrant politics, it is simply to ignite hatred. Migrants are only an excuse; it's about instilling fear of everything that does not belong in the stereotype of real Slovenians. What worries me is that this rhetoric is rapidly entering our space and poisoning it with false data that have no basis in facts," says Primož Cirman the Vice President of the Slovene Association of Journalists, which has urged the Media Inspectorate to take action.
The Ministry of Culture has also noticed racism in a comment for TV Slovenija: "We believe the cover of Demokracija is objectively expressing racial hatred, since rape is evidently connected (only) with dark-coloured migrants." They reported the magazine to the media inspectorate, and consider the case for criminal prosecution.
According to the journalist of Radio Slovenia Tina Lamovšek, the media inspectorate is taciturn in the answers, explaining that the application has been taken into consideration and that it will be dealt with in the shortest possible time.
Data on rape does not support the "culture of rape" claim
Information about the violence of immigrants in Slovenia, offered on a daily basis by the media of the right political pole, is in fact fake. Also in regard to the threat depicted by the visual connotation of the cover. We have requested the general police administration for statistical data on rape in Slovenia from 2010 to the present day.
In eight years, 374 rapes occurred in our country. Of these, almost all – 334 –were committed by Slovenian citizens. Other perpetrators are mainly from the countries of former Yugoslavia. Citizens of countries where potentially immigrants come from, committed four cases of rape during the eight-year period, and all of them took place in 2011 and 2015, i.e. before the refugee wave. Two of the perpetrators were from Sudan, one from Tunisia and one from Nigeria. Rape happened in the area of the Ljubljana Police Directorate. In other police administrations, there were not rape crimes committed by nationals of countries from which migrants originate.
The cabinet of Slovenian President Borut Pahor also responded. They wrote that the president always refrains from commenting media reporting, so that he would not be criticized for interfering with the freedom of speech and the press. However, his views on necessary mutual respect are known, they added.
The director and editor-in-chief of the Demokracija magazine, Jože Biščak, does not see any controversy. He believes that the cover is a matter of free editorial judgment. "The cover does not talk about rape in Slovenia, but about migrants who bring rape culture to Slovenia. The culture of rape is an established sociological concept for societies where rape is socially acceptable and not even a criminal offense." He exemplifies with the case of Pakistan, where many asylum seekers come from, reports Eugenija Carl.
