Ina has sued the HRT for this spring's "Otvoreno" political show on higher prices of fuel and petroleum products, whose anchorwoman and editor Hloverka Novak Srzic branded one of Ina's petroleum products as "garbage".
The HHO media council said on Monday that Ina's legal action can be interpreted also as a clear threat to the company and an attempt to counter any criticism of the company's business operations.
HHO also holds that this is contrary to the media legislation and the notion of the role of the media in a democracy.
HHO said that it was in the remit of public media to report about problems and failures in business operations of private companies, particularly companies which hold monopoly on the market and which impact many people's lives.
The human rights organisation went on to say that in case Ina's damages claim was granted, this would seriously undermine the business stability of the HRT.
HHO admits that the anchorwoman made a professional gaffe by calling the product garbage, but that possible damage inflicted on Ina with this statement was not comparable to the negative consequences which the granting of Ina's lawsuit may have for the broadcasting corporation.
The HHO media council warns about evident aspirations of some business circles to interfere with the editorial policy of some media.
Ina's suit is an escalation of those trends and attempts to silence the media, HHO added.