ZAGREB, March 5, 2019 – Secretary-General of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) Ricardo Gutierrez on Tuesday called out Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to take concrete steps to limit abusive prosecutions against journalists, and to ensure the full independence of public media.
“Mr Plenković claims we were manipulated! We don’t care about Mr Plenković’s impressions and feelings,” Gutierrez said in an article released on EFJ’s website in which he comments Plenković’s statement that Gutierrez isn’t went well informed about the situation in the media in Croatia and that there aren’t any problems with media freedoms in Croatia as is being portrayed.
Gutierrez is seeking answers from Plenković to questions like whether it is normal in a European Union country for journalists to be the target of no less than 1,163 legal proceedings and for the public broadcaster to use public money to intimidate journalists through 36 lawsuits and for Croatian authorities to remain unresponsive following the publication of a European report which states that editorial autonomy is at its lowest in the country, compared to all other EU member states.
Furthermore, Gutierrez questions whether it is normal for Croatian authorities to remain passive following the public of a European reporter denouncing the constant political interference in the management of the public broadcaster and that the level of independence of the Croatian broadcaster’s management and financing is worse than in Turkey or Serbia.
“We urge the Prime Minister to get to work: it is time for Croatia to take concrete steps to limit abusive prosecutions against journalists, and to ensure the full independence of public media. We do not expect feelings, but actions,” Gutierrez concluded.
More news on the media freedom in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.
