Trade Union of Croatian Journalists and the Croatian Journalists’ Association have launched the #zajednobezmrznje (#togetherwhithouthate) campaign, emphasizing that hate speech, which has so far mostly been in the sphere of social networks, has spilled over into the real world.
The problem of hate speech, but also the attitude towards the media and journalists, is big and will not be solved overnight. It is well known that journalism is not a job where compliments are given easily and that every published story provokes someone. That is the reality of journalism, we are used to it and we do not make a fuss about it.
The problem is the hatred and threats that are, especially recently, pouring out on streets more clearly and aggressively and we must be concerned for the safety of our colleagues.
We are not neglecting the part of our own responsibility. We can identify some of the causes among ourselves, our actions, editorial policies and the lack of solidarity and collegiality among us, however, together we can change things.
“The aim of the campaign is to raise the awareness of the conditions in which journalists have been working for years and the hate speech to which they are exposed. Therefore, we invited the media to prevent the publication of comments below the articles on portals and social networks for two hours, on Friday, October 23, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., in order to warn about this problem in a symbolic way.
The leading papers Jutarnji list, Slobodna Dalmacija, 24sata, Večernji list, Novi list, Glas Slavonije and Glas Istre responded to the call for the #zajednobezmrznje campaign, announcing on their portals on Friday, even before the start of the campaign, that they will turn off comments for two hours, and most of them published the comment on the campaign.
“Jutarnji list and Hanza Media pay special attention to the culture of commenting below the texts, in a way that seven of our employees on jutarnji.hr and slobodnadalmacija.hr make sure that hate speech is not published in the comments on a daily basis,” it was pointed out on the Jutarnji.hr portal.
The editor-in-chief of Slobodna Dalmacija, Jadran Kapor, in an address to readers entitled “The path of aggression from the keyboard to the street is short” furtherly explained the reasons for joining the campaign.
“We are doing this because of the unacceptable hate speech that has moved from social media to the portals of reputable media houses and in order to protect journalism,” Kapor said.
“24sata joins the campaign of HND and SNH, and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. we will publish the texts without comments in order to warn of the problem of hate speech,” it was pointed out on their portal.
“Večernji list joins the action not because it wants to silence its readers and introduce censorship, but because it wants to warn about this problem and open a discussion about it. This is one of the key issues of our democracy “, it was emphasized on the Večernji.hr portal.
HRT also joined the action, so they did not publish comments on the news published on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram profiles and YouTube channels.
Numerous portals responded to the action, including Telegram, T-portal, Tris, Zagreb.info, and it was also supported by N1 Televizija, the weekly Novosti, the daily La Voce del Popolo, Belišćanski list, Gradski radio Belišće, Dubrovnik.net, Croatian Radio Županja…
Thank you all and the #thefightcontinues. On the union’s website, a reminder of the attacks and hate speech directed at journalists, which we call #memorybook, is published every day.
On 6th November in the Press House of HND and SNH we will hold a forum with the editors-in-chief of the media entitled #togetherwhithouthate.