ZAGREB, Jan 20(Hina) - As few as 234 journalists took part in a survey on the freedom of reporters conducted by the Trade Union of the Journalists of Croatia (SNH), even though questionnaires had been sent to more than 1,200
reporters, the SNH reported on Tuesday,
ZAGREB, Jan 20(Hina) - As few as 234 journalists took part in a survey
on the freedom of reporters conducted by the Trade Union of the
Journalists of Croatia (SNH), even though questionnaires had been sent
to more than 1,200 reporters, the SNH reported on Tuesday,#L#
SNH president Jasmina Popovic said the union expected more reporters
to take the survey which was conducted in cooperation with the Faculty
of Political Science and the IPI Institute from Vienna.
After the results of the survey were released in some media last week,
Feral weekly said the union had manipulated its journalists and
deluded the public. The weekly said that only three Feral reporters
had taken the survey while the union said that 80 percent of Feral
reporters felt they lacked freedom in their work.
Feral said that the introductory part of the questionnaire read that
the survey was anonymous and that not a single survey sheet included
the name of the interviewed reporter or the newspaper the reporter
works for.
"Because of this lie, we feel shamelessly tricked by the organiser of
the survey and we are confident that by making the unofficial and
incomplete results public, (the union) has deliberately deluded the
public. We therefore demand of the SNH to establish who is to be held
responsible for the damage caused to us and our reporters and to take
appropriate measures in order to prevent similar incidents...," read a
statement signed by Feral journalists who are also members of the
SNH.
The journalists who took the survey also assessed the work with their
editors, their competence, their own influence on the final news item,
editorial policy, etc.
According to the survey, of 234 reporters from 23 news desks, 55
percent said they did not enjoy full freedom as journalists.
A professor at the Faculty of Political Science, Stjepan Malovic, who
helped draw up survey questions, said it was too early to speak about
the results and that the survey had to be analysed first.
(Hina) it sb