Is the Earth round or flat? Culture Ministry chief official says proof is still needed
Flat Earth-curious Lukáš Machala might be appointed head of the planned state broadcaster.
Lukáš Machala, a government official whose name has been mentioned among possible candidates to lead the planned new government-controlled state broadcaster, Slovak Television and Radio (STVR), is not sure that the Earth is a sphere.
Twenty-five centuries after Greek philosophers first theorised that the Earth is not flat, five centuries after Iberian explorers demonstrated that it is, indeed, a globe, and more than fifty years since innumerable spacecraft began taking photographs and video of the planet on which we live, Machala was asked by journalist Peter Žatko, in the television programme, “Reportéri” (Reporters), on April 29, whether people who believe that the Earth is flat should be given a platform on the current public broadcaster, RTVS.
Machala said they should – and went on to ponder how much any of us, really, knows.
“Has it been proved that the Earth is round? Have you been into outer space? No, nor have I, I don’t know,” Machala, chief of staff at the Culture Ministry, said.
Machala is notoriously conspiracy-minded
The government is trying to cancel RTVS, which airs “Reportéri”, and replace it with STVR, over which the ruling coalition would exercise more influence. The coalition claims that the current public broadcaster is biased and does not give space to opposing views. The bill to dissolve it and replace it with STVR, which has been approved by the government, was prepared by the Culture Ministry. The minister, Martina Šimkovičová (SNS nom.), a former presenter on commercial TV, runs her own disinformation and pro-Russian television channel on Facebook.
Machala, a Putin admirer, spread several conspiracy theories in the past. For example, he claimed that "the Illuminati" tried to take over Europe by sending migrants to the continent. Machala, who was previously a member of the right-wing Slovak National Party (SNS) and Republika, another far-right party which broke away from Marian Kotleba's neo-fascist ĽSNS, has also spread hoaxes about the coronavirus and a supposed "Jewish mafia" that wants to take over the world via the wars in Israel and Ukraine, the Pravda daily reports.
In reaction to Machala’s latest claim, Slovak astronaut Ivan Bella, who travelled into space in 1999 and spent eight days in orbit around the Earth, confirmed for the Refresher website that the planet is, indeed, round.
Open letter to MPs
Machala wasn’t impressed by the programme as broadcast. On the social media network Telegram he wrote that the journalist did a good job of portraying him as a conspiracy theorist. He added the aired report shows that the public broadcaster is miles away from "objective journalism".
“I am not a conspiracy theorist,” he declared, claiming that he would no longer communicate with the broadcaster.
On May 3, some RTVS workers handed an open letter to MPs, asking them not to vote for the bill on the public broadcaster.
“Let’s not forget that Slovakia is also a country marked by the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kušnírová. Six years after the murders, attacks on the media continue,” the letter reads.
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