"A number of politicians often attack journalists verbally, using anti-media rhetoric that is reproduced in certain media and, above all, on websites specialising in disinformation," the Reporter Without Borders international non-governmental media freedom watchdog wrote about Slovakia in their annual ranking of countries based on media freedom.
They specifically name Smer leader and former PM Robert Fico and former European affairs parliamentary committee head and MP for Smer, Luboš Blaha, whom the parliament repeatedly rejected in the vote for the human rights committee head.
It is the first time in four years that Slovakia's ranking has not declined. While in 2019, the country ranked 35th in the World Press Freedom Index, in the 2020 ranking it ended 33rd. This index evaluates the situation surrounding journalism every year in 180 countries and territories.