ZAGREB, January 9, 2019 - The Croatian Writers’ Society (HDP) and the Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) on Wednesday expressed solidarity with the journalists and media found guilty in court "for doing their job" and asked the Culture Ministry to change media regulations so as to protect the freedom of expression and writers' independence.

"A state in which sentences are delivered against journalists who stated true facts about a politician is not a democracy in the full sense of the word," they said in a joint press release, adding that a state in which it is usual to seek enormous damages from journalists in the name of alleged emotional distress is not a state with a bright future.

Sentences against a journalist for true reporting and a web portal for satirical articles as well as the huge number of lawsuits, often filed by politicians and public figures seeking high damages, "are happening to us, here and now," the press release said. "As writers, authors of possibly 'contentious' texts, as associates and readers of 'contentious' media, we don't agree to such a bastard democracy and social regression."

The HDP and the HND asked the government and the Culture Ministry, as the most responsible for media legislation, "to protect the freedom of expression and writers' independence." They appealed for changing media regulations and regulating relations in the media in a way that will enable pluralism of opinion, root out censorship and reduce pressure on journalists and other authors.

They also asked politicians to show by example how one encourages social dialogue and accepts a critical opinion instead of filing lawsuits.

More news on the media in Croatia can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 7, 2019 - Representatives of newspaper publishers at the Croatian Employers Association (HUP) on Monday expressed concern about a recent streak of cases in which courts ruled against a number of media outlets, ordering them to pay fines for cases of mental anguish, and described the rulings as legally unfounded and unfair and called on the relevant institutions to embark on legislative changes that would define clear and predictable rules for the publishing industry.

Newspaper publishers believe that the number of rulings against media outlets as well as the lack of uniform legal standards on which they are based, pose a serious threat to freedom of expression and media freedoms and that by generating legal insecurity, they jeopardise the stable operation of newspaper publishers, thus restricting their entrepreneurial freedom.

They recall that a few days ago a Croatian satirical portal was fined over a satirical article, with the judge deciding that assertions that are factually incorrect cannot be considered as satire.

A broader application of such a standard would in the future make any satirical text actionable, newspaper publishers warn.

They also recall a case where the plaintiff was given high damages for mental anguish suffered due to claims made in an authorised interview in which the plaintiff was not mentioned at all, as well as a case when a web portal was fined for reporting about a public protest and carrying statements made at the rally.

Newspaper publishers also warn of fines being excessive and of claims for damages being filed against different media outlets concerning the same mental anguish.

Pointing to the profile of plaintiffs, newspaper publishers say that even though western legal standards have for decades raised the threshold of acceptable public criticism of state officials and holders of public offices, in Croatia the number of cases where plaintiffs are senior members of political parties or the judiciary has been growing. This has the effect of institutional censorship and gives rise to suspicion about conflict of interest, newspaper publishers have said.

More news on the media in Croatia can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 3, 2019 - The Croatian public broadcaster HRT on Wednesday dismissed claims it was denying freedom of thought and practising censorship, and insisted that it "honours constitutional values that guarantee freedom of expression and thought."

The HRT responded to statements by Hrvoje Zovko, a Croatian Television (HTV) editor who serves as president of the Croatian Journalists' Association (HND), and Sanja Mikleušević Pavić, the head of the HND branch at HTV, saying that it had brought defamation charges against the two for stating that the HRT was practising censorship even though they knew this was not true. The company also filed a lawsuit demanding that the two return a laptop and other equipment issued to them for work purposes.

The broadcaster noted that in its report of January 2018, in the preparation of which the HND was involved, the South-East Europe Media Organisation (SEEM) did not mention any violations of freedom of the press by the Croatian Radiotelevision, but on the contrary SEEM found that progress had been made since its previous reports.

The Croatian Radiotelevision said that its financial situation was stable and that, following government guidelines, it had reduced losses, regained banks' trust, considerably reduced interest rates and the costs of external contractors, and increased work efficiency.

Citing data from the European Broadcasting Union, the broadcaster said that it ranks among the most viewed public television stations in Europe.

The HRT's reaction came after the HND leaders last week strongly condemned the lawsuits brought by the HRT management against the HND and HRT journalists. The HRT seeks over 500,000 kuna (67,500 euro) in damages because of their public statements. The HND described the Croatian Radiotelevision's move as "an unprecedented attack on the work and activity of the HND branch, intimidation of the journalists and an attempted financial attack on the HND."

A Slovenian member of the European Parliament, Tanja Fajon, described the HRT's latest act against the HND as yet another unacceptable attack on freedom of the press, while the Western Balkans platform for media freedom and safety of journalists, which represents over 8,000 members, strongly condemned the HRT's move and demanded that it withdraw its lawsuits and stop exerting pressure on the HND, describing such actions as unacceptable and unworthy of a public service broadcaster.

More news on the Croatian Radiotelevision can be found in our Business section.

ZAGREB, December 28, 2018 - The Croatian Journalists Association's (HND) leadership on Friday condemned in the strongest terms the latest suits by the HRT public broadcaster's management against the HND and HRT journalists for 500,000 kuna in damages over their public statements, calling it "an unprecedented attack on the work and activity of the HND branch, intimidation of journalists and attempted financial attack on the HND."

HND president Hrvoje Zovko, an HRT journalist and editor, said at a press conference that HND journalists and its HRT branch recently received suits in which the HRT claimed damages for "gross violations of reputation, honour and name."

One of the suits was filed over a statement by the HND's HRT branch of September 11 in which the branch journalists distanced themselves from then current scandals on the HRT, including the sale of FIFA World Cup tickets. The HRT management demands 200,000 kuna in damages from the HND and 50,000 kuna from the president of the HND's HRT branch, Sanja Mikleušević Pavić.

Zovko said that in two other suits the HRT claimed from him 250,000 kuna as compensation for the damage he allegedly caused the HRT with his public statements after being fired from the HRT and before being rehired, only to be immediately suspended.

"As far as I know, this is the only case in which a public television is suing a professional association... In the HND, we see this as an attack on and as financial intimidation and destruction of us and the HND. This is an unprecedented form of censorship and pressure by people running Croatian Radio-Television."

Zovko said the HND had already notified Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and that they would soon notify all relevant Croatian and European institutions as well as international professional organisations.

"This aggression by the HRT and the people who run it should be ended. They are punishing the professional association whose job it is to question the work on the media scene and are suing the people who are pointing to the erosion of programmes and irregularities on the HRT, and I don't know that anyone has been held to account for the omissions in programmes or the revisionist statements on the HRT. They can't sue us as much as we can warn about the irregularities on the HRT," said Zovko.

Mikleušević Pavić said citizens paid subscription and had the right to know how their money was being spent and about the irregularities in the HRT's operations.

"It's certainly not in the interest of Prime Minister Plenković, as a pro-European politician, that such images of extreme repression against journalists on the public broadcaster are going out. This is just the continuation of repression against undesirable journalists on the HRT, which was followed by financial penalisation. This is also an act of destruction of the HRT's credibility, reputation and honour, but we believe it's also a shameful attempt at intimidation."

She spoke of the HRT's omissions, the exodus of its journalists, and its lawsuits against journalists from other media who pointed to irregularities and programme omissions.

HND vice president Denis Romac said the latest suits were the grossest attack on journalists and the HND. He said the Programmes Council recently rejected an HRT work programme for 2019 and that this confirmed that the HRT's programming had already collapsed.

Another HND vice president, Slavica Lukić, said international professional organisations had already warned about the erosion of the HRT's reputation and programmes.

More news on the Croatian Radio Television can be found in our Business section.

ZAGREB, November 28, 2018 - European Union culture ministers on Tuesday discussed progress in the drafting of the Creative Europe programme for the 2021-27 period which includes support for culture, audiovisual sectors and media and for which the European Commission has proposed a 1.46 billion euro budget.

Creative Europe programme covers culture and media, putting greater emphasis on the spreading of media literacy and quality journalism.

Speaking to reporters, Croatian Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek said disinformation in media and media literacy raised questions in the member states of how to act through legislation, how to encourage quality media and quality journalism, and how to develop citizens' competencies for recognising inappropriate behaviour.

She said it was too early to say how much money would be allocated in the next multiannual framework.

Speaking of fake news and disinformation, she said solving this issue was "very important for creating and preserving trust in democratic institutions. "Many states are openly saying that fake news from outside the EU are being released on their territory. Baltic countries and Poland mentioned very clearly today the involvement of their eastern neighbour in the release of fake news."

She said Croatia's new electronic media law would oblige electronic publications to state their sources much more clearly.

She said Croatia and other EU member states were making efforts to create a regulatory framework for equitable compensation for artists, journalists and everyone creating content. She called claims that this would mean the death of free Internet as "typical disinformation," saying such regulations would primarily apply to big platforms such as Google and Facebook.

For more on the journalism in Croatia, click here.

ZAGREB, November 19, 2018 - Speaker of Parliament Gordan Jandroković on Monday gave a statement for the media on independent MP Željko Glasnović's speech in the parliament earlier in the day in which he called journalists moral typhoid and AIDS sufferers, saying that every member of parliament was responsible for their statements and that it was up to the media to comment on them appropriately.

"I recently heard an MP calling you useful idiots. I think it would be good if you treated such MPs appropriately," Jandroković told reporters.

Commenting on a reporter's remark that he neither warned Glasnović nor stopped his speech, Jandroković said that he lets people speak what they want and warns MPs only if they refer to someone by name. "As for general debates, the best judgement is the one made by citizens and the media. You should simply treat such MPs the way they deserve," he said.

"All kinds of things can be heard in the parliament. Any speech that is unacceptable is not welcome in the parliament," Jadroković said, adding that there were excellent parliamentary debates and MPs who prepared for debates, as well as MPs who tried to attract attention the way Glasnović did. "Try to find a way not to give them publicity, rather give it to those who prepare well and make useful contributions to the debate," he said.

Jandroković disagreed with MOST party leader Božo Petrov that situations like today's would be easy to deal with had the code of ethics he had proposed been adopted, saying that "a code of ethics cannot put under control MPs who want to attract attention by insulting and making cheap comments."

"What do you expect?" he told a reporter who remarked that parliamentary sessions were televised live.

"I would have to ban ten MPs a day from speaking for insulting the media alone. You feel offended now but just look at how MPs speak about one another, how they treat the session chair. I would have to be issuing warnings the whole time. I don't do it because the judgment of the public, not my warnings, is decisive," Jadroković said, adding that he did issue warnings in cases when he considered it necessary.

For more news on Croatian politics, click here.

ZAGREB, November 17, 2018 - The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) expressed deep concern about a Split Municipal Court ruling ordering the Jutarnji List daily to pay Split County Court judge Neven Cambi 50,000 kuna in compensation for non-pecuniary damage in the form of mental anguish the judge said he had suffered due to an interview published by the daily in November 2017, in which he was not even mentioned.

The interview in question was an authorised interview with MOST party MP Nikola Grmoja in which Grmoja spoke, among other things, about the situation in the judiciary, describing the State Judicial Council (DSV) as a "source of corruption" but without naming any DSV member specifically.

Regardless of that, the judge brought a civil action against the daily and won the case, saying that claims in the interview referred specifically to him and were published with the sole aim of depicting him as a bad person promoting unlawfulness and as a corrupt judge.

The HND said in its statement that it had been warning for years about the intolerable practice of prosecuting media for publishing authorised interviews as well as about the harmful practice of awarding high damages in cases when judges sue reporters for defamation, on which the European Court of Human Rights gave its opinion a few days ago.

In the case of the newspaper publishing company Narodni List d.d. versus Croatia, the ECHR on November 8 ruled that by ordering the company to pay judge Boris Babić 50,000 kuna in compensation for mental anguish Croatian courts had violated Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the freedom of expression.

The ECHR advised Croatian courts that damages awarded for mental anguish caused by the publishing of information must be proportionate to the actual damage suffered.

Excessive damages have a freezing effect and can seriously restrict an open debate on issues of public interest, the HND said.

For more on the status of journalists in Croatia, click here.

ZAGREB, October 20, 2018 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Friday evening received investigative journalist Domagoj Margetić at his request and called on him to end his hunger strike, which the reporter did, the Croatian government said on its website.

ZAGREB, October 3, 2018 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković apologised on Wednesday to a female reporter from the commercial RTL TV station for an inappropriate remark he made on Tuesday evening following a meeting of the Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) presidency and national council.

ZAGREB, October 2, 2018 - The programming council of the Croatian national broadcaster on Monday convened an emergency session to discuss the situation on Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) following the latest developments, including the dismissal of journalist Hrvoje Zovko, and concluded by a majority vote that the situation on HRT was concerning due to disrespect of journalistic standards and ethical norms as well as the state of media freedoms.