Urging Croatians to continue defending the press freedom and responsibility, the HND recalled in its statement on Tuesday that last year, 239 journalists and their associates were killed in the world.
During the 1991-1995 Homeland Defence War in Croatia, 14 reporters and photo-reporters died, according to the statement signed by the HND President Dragutin Lucic.
The Association calls on state and local officials to refrain from hate speech, given that after "verbal insults, real threats and attacks against reporters ensue".
In this context, the statement recalls the cases of Croatian journalists Andjelko Erceg, Drago Hedl, Denis Latin and Tihomir Ladisic, all of which drew condemnations by Croatian and international organisations and institutions and that even the European Commission pointed the finger at those cases before Croatia opened the accession talks with the European Union.
This is why the HND calls on promoting tolerance and public dialogue.
The association also warns about dangerous erosion of professional ethics and violations of fundamental and human rights including national, religious, sexual, family and other rights.
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists held a news conference in Zagreb on Tuesday.
The union's leader, Jasminka Popovic, said that "media in Croatia are becoming increasingly free, while reporters are feeling increasingly insecure".
Of 4,000 Croatian reporters, 70 percent are covered by the Collective Agreement, mainly those working for leading media houses.
The rest of 30 percent are mainly employed by local media and those reporters are more frequently exposed to mobbing and work without valid employment contracts.
According to Popovic, more and more journalists do not feel free and fear for their job, and this can be ascribed also to growing commercialisation of the media and pressures which various interest groups exert on reporters.
Tomorrow, the trade union organises the industrial action called "Five Minutes of Thunderous Silence". Journalists are called to join in the action and stop working five minutes to noon.