The journalists at Slovenia’s public broadcaster RTV have received warning letters from CEO Andrej Grah Whatmough after they interrupted a live broadcast to protest in support of their colleagues.

Warning letters were issued to all 38 journalists involved in the on-air protest, warning that they would face dismissal if contracts were breached again.

The letter, seen by VOA, states that the employee entered the studio “without authorisation.” The letter said the employees used the show “for expressing a personal opinion and thus inadmissibly intervened in the program.”

Any future breaches of contract in the next two years may result in termination, the letter said.

The protests came after Uros Urbanija, the director of RTV’s TV Slovenia unit, ordered anchor Sasa Krajnc and news editor Vesna Pfeiffer to be reassigned. This action came as Ms Krajnc introduced a broadcast segment on the instructions of the chief news editor.

Ms Pfeiffer told VOA that she had been demoted from being the editor of a prominent evening show to working on a morning news program. Krajnc has so far not been reassigned.

Mr Whatmough was named chief executive in 2021 by the Program Council. Under his administration, several popular shows had been either shortened, shifted to less prominent channels, or discarded.