Barbara Pance is a journalist, editor, Slovenian-language specialist and a Master of Science in the humanities. For the past twenty years, she has worked across Slovenia’s major commercial television networks, POP TV and Planet TV, and later served as Deputy Editor-in-Chief at the national newspaper Delo. She is the co-founder of the independent investigative platform Preiskovalno.si, where her work focuses on systemic failures, public accountability, vulnerable communities, and the protection of public funds.
In the past two years, Barbara has played a central role in exposing widespread neglect, abuse, and severe irregularities in elderly care homes across Slovenia. Her reporting documented cases of residents left without care for days, untreated medical conditions, improper hygiene practices, and even violence — sparking national debate, institutional reactions, and repeated inspections.
Barbara has also traced money flows in the Ministry for Long-Term Care, uncovering extensive systemic issues connected to the new long-term care legislation, including mismanagement, structural loopholes, and oversight failures that directly affect some of Slovenia’s most vulnerable citizens.
In 2024, together with a colleague, she investigated the case of 60-year-old Andrej, discovered living alone, neglected, and completely abandoned. The reporting exposed critical gaps in Slovenia’s oversight of isolated individuals, led to legislative reforms, and prompted authorities to identify three additional people living in comparable conditions within the same municipality.
This year, Barbara co-led an investigation into one of the largest environmental crimes in contemporary Slovenia, tied to the construction of the Dobrunje prison. The team revealed that investors had illegally dumped waste equivalent to seven football fields, including hazardous materials, into karst caves, farmland and land bordering a protected landscape park. Preiskovalno.si documented 14 illegal dumping sites, and the inspectorate now relies on information gathered by the journalists to guide enforcement — a reflection of the investigation’s depth and national importance. The case remains ongoing.
Barbara is the recipient of a European Commission journalism award for her acclaimed article on smoking, “Mami, Mickey Mouse Is Smoking.”
Beyond journalism, she is a passionate musician who plays several instruments, and she is the proud mother of two sons.
