Radio Študent continues to battle attrition

Last week members of the Student assembly of the Student organisation at the Faculty of Ljubljana (ŠOU) voted heavily in favour of the budget proposal that allocates Radio Študent 84.000€ i. e. around 70% of the funds needed (120.000€) for continued work of the radio in 2021.

Thus ŠOU has once again withheld the essential funds needed for one of their most active institutes which has been acting in public and student interest for the past 52 years. We perceive this as our leading principle yet ŠOU has once again chosen to award those who have - to various extent - ceased their operations due to the epidemic. It will be up to the general public to judge whether ŠOU is actually dedicated to act in the interest of students as the organisation’s leading figures have announced that all its institutes will be able to present their work in the upcoming sessions of the Student council. This includes the biggest benefactor of this year’s budget, Študentski Kampus (Student Campus), which was allocated 325.000€ of students’ money. The fact of the matter is that all of ŠOU’s institutes, with the exception of Radio Študent, got more funds than they would have had the prior system of minimum shares not been scrapped on 30 December 2020. Radio Študent’s share in this year’s budget represents only 3,1% of concession tax income (the previous regime stipulated that RŠ should receive at least 4%).

The approved budget will have serious consequences for Radio Študent as it will chip away at journalistic work and apprenticeship programmes as well as various projects, especially in the current climate where seeking financing on such short notice is bound to be an issue. The radio’s plans for further development will have to be cast aside and will once again, thanks to our founding organisation ŠOU, have to be replaced with innovative methods of survival. 2021 is looking like it will be another year of fighting for survival whilst simultaneously building a more stable foundation to maintain editorial autonomy and financial stability for Radio Študent whose recent plight sent shockwaves through the entire domestic and even international public spheres. In this current existential battle, donations deposited via the siri.radiostudent.si platform mean the world to us. To all our concerned supporters: we are grateful for your help and support in these trying months despite the fact that these alone cannot represent a long term solution for Radio Študent.

The dramatic changes in ŠOU’s budget proposals since the new year, in regards to Radio Študent’s share, confirm that the problem of financing RŠ is in fact not in ŠOU’s financial struggles, like its president Klemen Petek would have you believe, but rather it’s a case of planned destruction and an attempt to discipline a media outlet who refuses to bow down to the student elite. This sentiment is apparent in many public statements given by ŠOU representatives.

The privatisation of Radio Študent is apparently no longer on ŠOU leadership’s mind according to the director Andrej Klasinc who repeated his prior commitment that “we will discuss the transfer of foundership only if RŠ asks for it”. We at Radio Študent wish to say that we have no such intentions. Furthermore we will fight for sufficient financing by ŠOU and for the re-introduction of minimum shares for all of ŠOU’s institutes which will take in account contributions made by all members of the ŠOU family with regard to asserting student and general public interest.

We have successfully halted the destruction of Radio Študent and will continue to save it from degradation by any means necessary. With this in mind we are still counting on the 15.000 individual and 500 institutional signatories who joined the Coalition to save Radio Študent back in January. We believe that it was because of your amazing support that we have been able to avoid the worst case scenario and for this we thank you. Not only in the name of all the people working at the station but also in the name of all those people whose interests and needs are being addressed with our work.