Ljubljana - The Labour and Social Court has agreed with Natalija Gorščak in that RTV Slovenija director general Andrej Grah Whatmough dismissed her unlawfully in August 2021.

In her lawsuit, Gorščak insisted that she had been dismissed to be punished for not dismissing Manica Janežič Ambrožič as TV news editor-in-chief.

Grah Whatmough denied this, telling the court in July that Groščak had been dismissed for failing to check low viewer ratings of TV Slovenija news programmes.

Gorščak responded by saying he had asked her to produce an action plan to raise ratings during annual leave, with Grah Whatmough saying it was clear who had stood in for her.

Gorščak was also said to have spent more than allowed under the 2019 TV Slovenija financial plan without approval by the then director general, Igor Kadunc.

However, Kadunc, now STA director general, denied this in court, saying he had been acquainted with the higher expenses and agreed with them.

Grah Whatmough also accused Gorščak of failing to check the conditions under which RTV Slovenija had cooperated with Sport Media Focus, a company partly owned by Janežič Ambrožič's husband.

Janežič Ambrožič resigned last October over the planned changes to the 2022 production plan that cut some news programmes.

She was replaced by Jadranka Rebernik, who works closely with Grah Whatmough on many of the changes that staff at the public broadcaster have been protesting against.

The court's decision is not final yet with the RTV Slovenija management still having time to appeal.

After Gorščak's dismissal, TV Slovenija was without a full-fledged director for almost a year, until Uroš Urbanija, head of the Government Communication Office under the previous government, took over in mid-July.