Le Monde owner Daniel Křetínský and PPF’s growing influence in the Balkans

This week, the Slovenian magazine Mladina published a damning exposé on Prime Minister Janez Janša’s influence over editorial policy at some of the country’s most important media outlets.

At the heart of this scandal is the Czech conglomerate PPF and its heir apparent, Daniel Křetínský, who also owns a significant stake in the French publication, Le Monde and is the largest shareholder in UK’s Royal Mail.

Mladina reported that in December 2020 Janša met with Petr Kellner, the now deceased owner of PPF. PPF is the parent company of Slovenia’s two biggest commercial TV stations, Pop TV and Kanal A. Janša used the meeting to complain about the news reporting on Pop TV. Pop TV is the most widely watched TV station in Slovenia.

PPF and Křetínský, who is in a relationship with Kellner’s daughter and is widely thought to be Kellner’s successor at PPF, have extensive business operations throughout Slovenia. PPF recently won a bid to build a major highway system. Křetínský is part owner of the Petrol oil and gas business. The success of these business operations relies on a close relationship with the ruling party.

The Mladina report claimed that since the meeting between Kellner and Janša, senior management at PPF have started revising media content. Journalists are required to send translations of articles and TV news critical of the government to their Czech owners, and reportedly find themselves under the constant watchful eye of PPF, the article said.

While it is not unusual for politicians to court media owners to receive more favourable coverage, the extent and manner of control achieved by Janša in Slovenia is alarming. It also highlights a wider geopolitical concern about PPF’s media interests due to its close ties with China and Russia. 

PPF has extensive media interests across the Balkans, as well as in Czechia and Romania. After PPF purchased the Bulgarian news station BTV from American telecoms giant AT&T, there was a quick reversal in editorial policy, from exposing corruption to offering soft reporting on the government, Mladina reported.

In Serbia, via their telecoms subsidiary Telenor Srbija, PPF are looking to force out independent United Group from the media market through an anti-competitive alliance with the state-owned provider, Telekom Srbija. This merger would effectively create a government monopoly on TV news in Serbia.

Owners like PPF and Křetínský, of course, are not just concerned with the profitability of their media businesses – their proprietorships are also tools for influence. PPF’s profits are partly derived from Home Credit, a consumer credit business.  Home Credit’s main business operations are in China and Russia where the management also have to carefully manage their political relationships.

The Balkan Free Media Initiative is greatly concerned by the interference of media owners like PPF and Křetínský in editorial policy. Unfortunately, it is a story that is all too common across the Balkans because of the persistence of crony capitalism that encourages ownership of media by politically connected businesspeople who use the media to protect their privileged positions.

With the death of Kellner earlier this year, Křetínský is increasing looking like he might become one of the most important media and political figures in the Balkan region. We will monitor his actions closely over the coming months.