ZAGREB, March 13, 2018 – Croatian MPs on Tuesday unanimously endorsed 2014, 2015 and 2016 work reports of the Electronic Media Council and the Electronic Media Agency, and warned about an increase of hate speech in the media and the need to punish it more strictly.
Warning about hate speech in TV and radio shows as well as on social networks, MPs agreed the area is not regulated well-enough and that a temporary or permanent concession revocation is not enough.
The Electronic Media Council should act without political pressure, Nenad Stazić of the opposition SDP said, telling Council chair Damir Hajduk, who presented the reports, to be brave and not allow himself to be intimidated. “Stop the torrent of primitivism, the torrent of hate and the Ustasha ideology which is spreading in the media today.”
“I see no Ustashas in Croatia,” independent Ivica Mišić said in response to Stazić, calling his speech inappropriate.
Serb MP Milorad Pupovac of the ruling coalition’s SDSS said the number of sanctions should be much bigger given the state of affairs in the media. “Hate speech is a serious problem, either in shows’ contents or in discussions below articles. There’s no proper oversight of that.”
Bojan Glavašević of the SDP said the academic community “hasn’t succeeded in understanding and processing phenomena,” as a result of which the regulator failed to act properly.
Irena Petrijevčanin Vuksanović of the ruling HDZ said it was necessary to amend legislation regulating the media and social media.
“You didn’t prevent even one hate speech comment nor punish anyone for anything,” Goran Beus Richembergh of the opposition GLAS said, adding that despite a lacking legislation, the Electronic Media Council should have publicly commented on situations it had considered dubious and promoted positive practices.
Hajduk said the Council issued 34 warnings, 12 cautions and one misdemeanor warrant in 2015, and 31 warnings, six cautions and three misdemeanor warrants in 2016. In 2016, the Council revoked a Zagreb TV station’s concession for three days in the context of regulating hate speech.
