For 18 months, the Ministry of Culture and Media has not even answered whether it has read the proposals of the Croatian Journalists’ Association and the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists for the draft Law on Media.
At the beginning of July, their proposal arrives from the Ministry, to which they request an answer within 15 days.
All proposals aimed at strengthening the position of journalists, strengthening editorial independence, preventing state and capital interference in determining the fate of the media and the journalists who work there; were completely ignored. It’s as if no one in Runjaninova street (street where the Ministry building is) has even read the proposals of CJA and TUCJ.
From yesterday’s reaction of the Minister of Culture and Media, Nina Obuljen Koržinek, as Telegram reported, it can be noted the willingness to discuss the disputed provisions of the draft law through a working group.
However, the working group has existed since the end of 2021., when CJA sent its proposals. The draft sent by the Ministry is their own proposal, not the working group’s.
We hope that the announced continuation of the group’s work will not be just a fig leaf for the Ministry to satisfy the form.
That is why we repeat once again what is disputed by CJA and TUCJ in the new draft of the Media Act.
- Limiting the freedom of the media in order to protect morals, the authority of the judiciary
- Register of professional journalists and photojournalists
- Council of media experts – method of election, composition, powers…
- Government advertising in the media
- State subsidies to the media – to whom, how much, are they all in an equal position…
- Failure to prescribe a fine for the adoption of the Statute of the editorial office
- Editors-in-chief and editorial staff are appointed and dismissed exclusively by the media service provider
- The media service provider does not have to publish a journalistic piece, and the editors do not have to publish the reasons for that decision
- State Attorney can ask the court for the journalist to reveal the source if this is in the interest of national security, the territorial integrity of the Republic of Croatia and the protection of people’s health
These are just some of the controversial proposals that we have presented to you so that you can see in which direction the draft is going.
As HND stated in a letter to the minister, “its adoption significantly sets back media freedoms and the position of journalists and journalism in Croatia.” At the same time, we note with regret that with such a proposal, the Government of the Republic of Croatia completely ignored the fact that the European Commission recognizes journalism as a public good in its proposal for the European Law on Media Freedom.
We continue the fight for the public good!