"Regarding its tone and contents, the show which was supposed to tackle the position of the Croat people in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia's relations with Croats in that country, may have had its place in a party-run television network and during a dirty pre-election campaign. However, airing it on public television is extremely inappropriate, and perhaps inadmissible," the press release reads.
Starting from a falsely construed thesis that the replacement of the Croat member in the Bosnian three-man presidency, Dragan Covic, was a blow to local Croats, and from the groundless statement that Croatia, notably its President Mesic, did not show any care for Bosnian Croats, the broadcast turned into a coarse and insulting attack against the policy which promotes normal relations with Bosnia-Herzegovina and jettisons any plan for making any claims on the territory of a neighbouring sovereign country as well as against the main protagonist of that policy, Stjepan Mesic, reads the press release signed by the head of public relations department in the President's Office, Danijela Barisic.
According to the press release, the broadcast abounded with false statements, semi-truths and the anchorwoman failed to appropriately react when President Mesic was branded as traitor.
"Without bringing into question that everybody has the right, including guests in the Otvoreno show, to express their opinions and, fully respecting the freedom of media, the Office of the President must, however, point to the fact that the freedom of expressing one's own opinion does not mean the freedom to disseminate lies, and the freedom of the media does not imply that the media, notably public media, can take sides with any political option to the detriment of objectivity and truth," the Office said.
Thursday night's Otvoreno, whose anchorwoman was Hloverka Novak Srzic, focused on Covic's dismissal from Bosnia's collective presidency, and the current position of Croats in Bosnia as well as their treatment by Zagreb.
Guests in the HTV Zagreb studio were politician and professor Zdravko Tomac and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Vice President Andrija Hebrang. Guests in the Siroki Brijeg studio were the sacked Covic and Barisa Colak, the head of the HDZ in Bosnia, as well as a reporter Jozo Pavkovic.
Statements made by High Representative to Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, who decided to replace Covic, the primate of the Roman Catholic Church in Bosnia, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, and Bosnian Serbs and Muslim politicians were also aired.
During the show, TV viewers could also take part in the discussion. A woman who called used abusive language against President Mesic, but was interrupted by Novak Srzic.