by Lori Šramel Čebular, Peace Institute, Ljubljana
The second Citizens‘ Parliament on Media and Democracy in Slovenia took place on Saturday, 29 March 2025, continuing the discussion among 20 citizens as they deliberated – this time – on critical issues concerning media systems and regulation. Organized by the Peace Institute within the MeDeMAP project, this session was joined by Prof. Dr. Sandra Bašić Hrvatin. Following her presentation, participants went straight into deciding on the first joint resolutions, which will be presented to decision-makers in Slovenia as well as at the EU level.
Expert insight “the wise don’t let go – they organize”
After a discussion reflecting on impressions from the previous parliament, Prof. Dr. Sandra Bašić Hrvatin, an activist, professor at the University of Primorska Faculty of Humanities, and a researcher of international and Slovenian media landscapes, opened her presentation with the words: “the wise don’t let go – they organize” which participants recognized as an important motto for their future engagements. Her insights covered a range of issues, including the transparency of financial flows in the media sphere, the pros and cons of media self-regulation, and an analysis of a more interventionist approach to media regulation. The discussion sparked a wave of participant questions, from“what about the regulation of AI?” to “could the future lie in independent and community media?”
Topics for further deliberation
With participants deciding to refer to their suggestions as „demands“ rather than „resolutions“, believing it carries a stronger impact, the discussion turned to voting mechanisms and decision-making processes regarding these demands. This set the stage for selecting the key topics the participants would focus on in more detail. The greatest interest emerged in drafting demands on media responsibility and ethics as well as the media economy. However, following the expert presentation and subsequent discussions, a completely new topic emerged: reforming the system.
First 11 demands of the citizens’ parliament
After an insightful discussion in the World Café format, the demands were set, addressing a wide range of potential solutions within the broad topic of media systems and regulation. Altogether, the citizens formulated 11 demands, laying the foundation for future deliberations of the Citizens‘ Parliament with nearly all demands receiving unanimous support from participants demonstrating the effort invested in deliberation, consensus-building, and refining the specifics of each demand.