A chief editor quits over Pellegrini’s intervention in a to-be-published interview

Plus 7 Dní weekly reporter asked the prime minister a sensitive personal question.

Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer).Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer). (Source: TASR)

The editorial of a well-established tabloid weekly Plus 7 Dní is experiencing tensions following the resignation of their editor-in-chief, who alleges the prime minister tried to use his connections to stop an interview that he gave to the weekly from being published.

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The weekly asked PM Peter Pellegrini (Smer) about his sexual orientation in the interview ahead of the 2020 elections.

The weekly’s publisher, the News and Media Holding company owned by the Penta financial group, intervened in the process of editing and publishing this interview after a request from the Government's Office. Plus 7 Dní editor-in-chief Katarína Šelestiaková resigned from her post.

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"The leader of a party, whose leaders attack the LGBT community and raise marginal-value questions on and on, apparently opposing sexual minorities, should be able to address questions regarding his orientation," Šelestiaková wrote in her editorial in the latest issue of the weekly, in which she announced her resignation.

The News and Media Holding (NMH) publishing house, of which the weekly is a part, confirmed the prime minister did not agree with publishing this question.

Publisher agrees with the PM

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