The three HTV editors were suspended after they broadcast a footage showing Croatian President Stjepan reportedly glorifying the Ustasha regime in the Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945).
The HND protests against the suspension because it believes that it seriously jeopardises the achieved level of freedom of the media in Croatia.
The association said that it was not up to journalists and editors to asses whether the information was politically damaging or expedient. If the information is authentic and if there is a public interest for it, the information should be made available to the public for evaluation, in line with the ethics and principles of the profession, the association said.
The HRT Board of Governors on Sunday held a session to discuss legal and ethical aspects of the report on an old speech made by Mesic which the Croatian Television (HTV) broadcast in the prime time news on Saturday evening.
The contentious video footage, which was first released by the Index.hr portal on Saturday, was carried by the HTV's Dnevnik and Post Scriptum broadcasts.
The HRT Board of Directors and the editor in chief of the HTV news programme agreed that several professional omissions were done in those reports. They also concluded that the information was carried in an uncritical fashion, the report was unprofessionally prepared and later presented in a sensationalist style.
The Croatian Social Liberal Party on Sunday evening condemned the suspension of the HTVjournalists, saying it would ask the parliament to hold a debate on the rights of journalists to professional integrity.