ZAGREB, 24 March 2022 - Zadar County Court has rejected an appeal by the HRT public broadcaster against reporter Hrvoje Zovko and upheld a Zagreb Municipal Court ruling that the statement by Zovko, who is president of the Croatian Journalists' Association, about censorship at HRT was not contentious or false.

The court also ruled that Zovko's statement did not hurt the HRT's reputation, the HND reported on its website on Thursday.

"This is a great victory for me, my family and my attorney and proof that I have been telling the truth all along," said Zovko.

He said the final ruling in the case was also a "defeat of the policy pursued by the public media service at the time when Kazimir Bačić, a former inmate of the Remetinac jail, was at its helm" and when all the lawsuits against him were filed.

"This is a great victory for HND and the journalist profession. The ruling confirms the real situation at the HRT's News Desk, which is something we have been warning of for years," said Zovko.

The ruling notes that Zovko made statements that HRT considers contentious after the broadcaster fired him and that HRT was the first to go public about the dismissal. Zovko's statements were a reaction to HRT's public statement about the reasons for his dismissal, the court ruled.

The court also found that the motive for Zovko to make the statements was determined correctly and that the statements were a justified response to ill-intentioned attempts to publicly discredit him.

The court ruled that testimonies by witnesses for the defence were convincing and sincere.

The court further determined that the working atmosphere and environment at HRT had for a long time prior to Zovko's statements been such that it could prompt a large number of persons, including the indictee, to conclude that there was a certain degree of restriction on employees to freely express their opinions and ideas.

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ZAGREB, 19 Dec, 2021 - Companies' representatives, advertisers, politicians and government members are the untouchables in the media, according to a survey which journalist and editor Đurđica Klancir did for the GONG civil society organisation.

Although those in power often claim there is no censorship in Croatia's media sphere, more than two in three journalists answered in the affirmative when asked if they were exposed to pressure due to their stories in the past two years, GONG says on its website.

Also, two in three respondents said they witnessed pressure on their newsrooms by power-wielders, media owners, and their own outlet's marketing departments.

Thirty experienced journalists and editors from the public broadcaster, the most influential private TV stations, print media and web portals were contacted at the start of the survey and 23 responded, says GONG executive director Oriana Ivković Novokmet.

Almost half the respondents said that in the last two years they were banned from tackling certain subjects, most often due to advertisers but also during the 2020 parliamentary election campaign. Besides big advertisers, the untouchables included members of the ruling party, ministers, the prime minister, as well as opposition politicians.

Stories are most often stopped due to advertisers, but only a few respondents said attempts were made to influence their work while preparing and researching a story. Such suggestions came most often from their editors or their outlet's owners. According to one respondent, politicians and PR agents also suggested the direction a story should take.

With increasing frequency, journalists are asked to write articles commissioned by editors based on theses given in advance, often incorrect ones, one journalist said. "We are also asked to write PR and native articles, both economic and political ones, often covertly. Refusal to write an article in the way requested can mean, and often means, termination, and it almost certainly means degradation."

The findings of this pilot survey show that there is censorship in Croatia's media sphere and that newsroom censorship mechanisms are increasingly present, GONG says, adding that it's necessary to continue to look into this matter as well as persist in eliminating all forms of censorship and pressure on journalists and the media.

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ZAGREB, November 2, 2020 - The Croatian Journalists Association has said, on the occasion of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, that crimes against reporters are very often not punished, which leads to new attacks and an atmosphere of fear resulting in media censorship and self-censorship.

The HND recalls in a statement issued on Monday that in the past six years there were 28 attacks, 22 death and assault threats and 14 other threats (64 in total) against reporters, media outlets or journalists organisations in Croatia.

Of the nine attacks that have happened this year, prosecutors have launched proceedings in two cases, and there are numerous cases of previous years that still have not been closed, the HND says.

"The HND is warning about the years-long silence of the leading people in the country, starting from the prime minister. We are therefore asking for clear and unequivocal condemnation of attacks and threats against reporters," the umbrella journalists association says.

It notes that according to UNESCO data, in the period from 2006 to 2019 around 1,200 reporters were killed worldwide, or one in four days on average.

They were all killed while doing their job in public interest, the HND says.

In nine out of ten cases the perpetrators and those who have ordered the murder are not punished, the HND says.

According to the regional database of attacks on journalists (safejournalists.net), since 2015, 774 threats and attacks against reporters have been reported in six countries of the region (North Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia), including two cases of attempted murder, both in Croatia.

In none of the two cases has the perpetrator been found or punished, the HND warns.