Slovenia

In an international comparison, journalists in Slovenia face very low levels of physical threat, including violence, arrest, or intimidation. However, the country performs considerably worse in other safety domains. Psychological safety scores place Slovenia in the bottom third, indicating concerns such as stress, burnout, and emotional harassment. These results are in line with the results of the latest survey conducted by Slovene Union of Journalist regarding working conditions of journalists, which found that almost 90% of interviewed journalists report symptoms of overwork and burnout, with one in three experiencing it weekly and a smaller percentage daily. Furthermore, the pandemic-driven shift to remote work worsened work-life boundaries, social isolation, and blurred time schedules, all contributing to stress and emotional exhaustion (Mance et al., 2023).

Similarly, digital safety ranks low relative to other countries, possibly due to increased exposure to cyber threats and insufficient protections against politically motivated online harassment (Vobič, 2023)—particularly that originating from a specific far-right political party known for orchestrated attacks on mainstream media and targeting journalists critical of its agenda (Amon Prodnik & Mance, 2022). In contrast, financial safety appears strong in relative terms, but the absolute score suggests only moderate economic security for journalists. Among the possible reasons why journalists in Slovenia are ranked relatively high in terms of economic security is the country’s legacy of a strong welfare state, inherited from the former socialist system and, to some extent, still maintained today. In this system, citizens benefit from comprehensive social and health security, which helps cushion the effects of precarious employment, including in journalism. This structural support may partially offset low or unstable incomes by providing access to affordable healthcare, public services, and social safety nets—factors that are often absent or weaker in countries with more liberal or deregulated labour markets.

Slovenia’s position in the index highlights a striking paradox: while journalists benefit from strong physical protection, they may still face structural vulnerabilities—particularly in the digital, psychological, and financial domains. These issues are often less visible but are nonetheless essential for understanding of the broader safety landscape.

In addition to international comparisons, it is equally important to assess internal consistency across safety domains. By focusing solely on absolute scores (0–100), one can evaluate how balanced the safety environment is within Slovenia itself. This internal perspective reveals significant contrasts. Physical safety is clearly the strongest domain, followed by digital safety. Psychological safety is moderately high but still signals a need for improved support systems. Notably, economic safety records the lowest score, despite its high international rank. This suggests that economic insecurity among journalists remains a substantial issue in the media environment in Slovenia  (Vobič, 2023).

This internal-external divergence raises important questions about the limits of rank-based comparisons. Slovenia’s high international rank in financial safety might imply robust conditions, yet the underlying score tells a different story. It is likely that economic challenges for journalists are widespread across countries, making Slovenia appear stronger simply because others are performing worse. In such cases, a moderate absolute score can produce a high rank, which risks masking underlying vulnerabilities. The aforementioned Union survey found that Slovene journalists have spent on average a third of their careers without formal employment contracts, 81% of interviewees regularly performed unpaid or only partially paid overtime, almost 75% of newspaper journalists were dissatisfied with opportunities for advancement; one of the most prominent dissatisfaction was related to job evaluation systems and additional employment benefits, while 85% have considered leaving the profession, and two-thirds have sought work outside journalism (Mance et al., 2023).

References

Mance, Boris, Splichal, Slavko, Vobič, Igor, Slaček Brlek, Aleksander Sašo, Kaluža, Jernej, Kerševan, Tanja. 2023. Poročilo o izvedbi ankete Opolnomočenje sindikata za pripravo nove kolektivne pogodbe. Ljubljana: Fakulteta za družbene vede, Univerza v Ljubljani.

Amon Prodnik, Jernej in Boris Mance. 2022. Attacks on the media and journalism by authoritarian right: Janez Janša’s first 100.000 tweets. In: Communication, capitalism and critique: critical media sociology in the 21st century: book of abstracts: ESA RN18 Mid-Term Conference, Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, 1–3 September.

Vobič, Igor. 2023. Slovenia: a paternal-commercial media environment amid the digital transformation of social communication. In: Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska (ed.) and Jelena Kleut. Media systems in Balkan countries: context and dynamics of changes, 149–166. Berlin: Peter Lang.