HHO SAYS AMENDMENTS TO LAW SHOULD NOT DESTABILISE NATIONAL BROADCASTER

ZAGREB, March 4 (Hina) - The Media Council of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (HHO) sent an open letter to Prime Minister Ivo Sanader on Thursday, warning that the amending of the Law on Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) should not destabilise the national broadcasting corporation again.#L# The letter, signed by Council chairman Bozo Novak, presented the HHO's views on priorities of the media policy, including the further consolidation of HRT, particularly its independence of the government. The HHO believes that the amending of the law at a time when the appointment of a director general of HRT was to end the interim status of HRT's managers, presents a potential risk of political influence on the national broadcaster being restored. The Media Council proposed that the appointment procedure be implemented according to the existing law in order to dispel the distrust towards the government and resolve the interim status of the management. In this context, the Council recalled that members of the HRT Programmes Council had publicly stated that they could make their decisions freely and that they were not under political pressure. (Hina) vm sb