Saša Leković talks about OSCE’s position towards media freedom in Croatia.
Croatia is among countries which are considered to have endangered media freedom, which was confirmed at an annual meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) which is being held in Sarajevo, said president of the Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND) Saša Leković, who took part in the meeting, reports Večernji List on April 25, 2016.
“It was clear from the presentation by the OSCE Special Representative for media freedom Dunja Mijatović and the subsequent comments of participants that media freedom and independence of journalists are being more endangered throughout Europe. One of the countries in which such situation is particularly seen is Croatia”, said Leković.
He pointed out that this was only a confirmation of what the HND had been saying for the whole year. In addition to countries in which, according to the OSCE, media freedom have been a long-standing problem, such as Ukraine, Turkey and Serbia, Mijatović explicitly mentioned Croatia, along with Hungary and Poland, as EU countries where there are significant problems, said Leković.
In particular, it has been assessed that, after all the previous governments in Croatia had not done enough for the freedom and independence of the media, the current government had increased pressure on media and journalists, including with the dissolution of the Council for Electronic Media and the attitude towards the Croatian Radio Television which the authorities have subordinated to their political goals, said the HND president.
The HND has been joined in its assessment by the EFJ and the International Federation of Journalists, OSCE’s Office for Media Freedom and the EBU, but despite warning letters being sent to the Croatian authorities, no response has been received.
“That demonstrated an absence of a democratic culture and accountability of political elites in Croatia, because even the opposition has not reacted in any way”, said Leković.
He added that he expected that international organizations and institutions dealing with media freedom will intensify their activities and again warn the authorities in Croatia that what they are doing is contrary to international norms, the Constitution and all EU documents which deal with media freedom and the independence of journalists.
