ZAGREB, January 21, 2020 – The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) said on Monday that it had walked out of a Culture Ministry task force in charge of drawing up a new law on electronic media because the ministry did not include any of the HND’s proposals in the document.
The HND says that it had submitted a document with its proposals to the ministry on August 26, 2019 after on July 26 working material for the future law was made available to it.
The association says that it wants to remind the public of this fact in light of Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek’s repeated statements about the HND “stating falsely that its proposals were not accepted. Those that could be accepted were accepted.”
“Statements like this one are designed to create the impression that the HND left the ministry’s task force without a real reason. That is why we are repeating: The Culture Ministry did not accept any of the HND’s proposals to the working text of the Electronic Media Act, including one on the need to depoliticise the Electronic Media Council. The HND joined the task force responsibly, in good faith and with the best of intentions, expecting that we share the same goal of upgrading the media in Croatia and their democratic function,” HND president Hrvoje Zovko said on behalf of the HND Executive Board.
HND representatives said that they had joined the task force bearing in mind the HND’s mission to protect journalism as a public good, protect the public interest and promote the public’s right to fair, correct and complete information.
“Aware of this role of ours in society, we will join in public consultation on the electronic media bill, the minister doesn’t need to remind us of that,” Zovko said.
More news about the status of journalists in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.
