A meeting with Karolína Farská, Slovak journalist and press freedom activist

Sean Montebello - 11. October. 2023

On Friday, 13 October, The Shift’s Founder and Managing Editor, Caroline Muscat, will be interviewing Slovak journalist and press freedom activist Karolína Farská as part of a series of events marking six years since the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Since 2018, Farská has been part of ‘For a Decent Slovakia’, a protest movement campaigning for good governance and thorough investigations following the murder of Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová.

Kuciak and his fiancée were murdered in February 2018 following his investigations into the tax fraud of businessmen with connections to top-level Slovak politicians. Kuciak and Kušnírová’s murder sparked a political crisis in Slovakia, leading to the resignation of pro-Kremlin prime minister Robert Fico.

Last September, Fico regained power at the Slovak general election and is now expected to form a coalition party before he can regain his seat as prime minister.

Farská has worked as a journalist at the Investigative Centre of Ján Kuciak since last year, winning an Achilles Data Award in Czechia. The Centre has analysed and documented Fico’s intimidation tactics and threats to journalists and media freedom in Slovakia before last month’s general election.

The murders of Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová bear striking similarities to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Last year, Fico claimed journalists investigating state corruption act “like an organised criminal group” to ” break the State”. In 2016, he called journalists “dirty, anti-Slovak prostitutes”.

The hostile environment for journalists in Slovakia closely parallels that in Malta with local journalists sounding the alarm over an untransparent media environment and uncooperative government officials, despite pledges of reform.

The public inquiry into the assassination of Caruana Galizia concluded that the Maltese State was responsible for creating a culture of impunity which empowered those who commissioned the assassination.

The interview with Karolína Farská is organised by Repubblika and will be held on Friday, 13 October, at 6:00 pm at the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Floriana. Registration is required at [email protected].