ZAGREB, April 28 (Hina) - All parliamentary clubs of deputies on Wednesday endorsed the final media bill although many deputies presented a number of objections, especially with regard to the regulation on media market ownership
concentration which is not allowed.
ZAGREB, April 28 (Hina) - All parliamentary clubs of deputies on
Wednesday endorsed the final media bill although many deputies
presented a number of objections, especially with regard to the
regulation on media market ownership concentration which is not
allowed.#L#
Introducing the bill, the State Secretary at the Culture Ministry,
Jadran Antolovic, said that every newspaper publisher would have to
report all plans of market concentration. Any merger resulting in a
publisher's market ownership share exceeding 40 percent of the market
would not be allowed, he said.
Some clubs of deputies consider unnecessary and harmful the additional
restriction of concentration which prevents media mergers resulting in
concentration exceeding 40 percent of the media market.
Social Democrat Antun Vujic recalled that the previous law, which the
Constitutional Court annulled last year because it was not adopted by
a majority vote in parliament, prevented the purchase of more shares
for newspaper publishers with market concentration of 40 percent. The
proposed solution puts the publishers into a difficult position and is
more restrictive than anywhere else in Europe, Vujic said.
Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) deputy Damir Kajin wondered if a
newspaper publisher should be allowed to have a share of more than 40
percent of the total number of sold dailies and weeklies in cases when
this would help save from bankruptcy another publisher.
Kajin mentioned the offer of the Europa Press Holding publishing
company for the purchase of the Slobodna Dalmacija daily, wondering if
"it is better to allow the paper to close down or help save it through
ownership concentration".
"Maybe the government is interested in exerting political influence to
intervene in that paper, and a political donation by the executive
authority is even more dangerous and can result in even bigger
problems and the replacement of one monopoly with another," Kajin
said.
Vesna Pusic of the Croatian People's Party/Primorje-Gorski Kotar
Alliance (HNS/PGS) said that a good legal solution should not be
dismissed because of the case of Slobodna Dalmacija. "There are other
ways for the government to save the paper. As its owner, the
government can recapitalise the paper, invite new bids or choose among
the bidders who submitted offers in the previous bid," Pusic said.
Deputies of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Social Liberal
Party (HSLS) advocated preventing any possibility of monopoly and
guaranteeing pluralism and media diversity.
The government, which sponsored the bill, believes that the document
offers improvements, including a new definition of terms like public
information, journalist and editor, the promotion of media intended
for people with special needs, the promotion of pluralism and media
diversity, etc.
The issue of media ownership concentration also marked individual
debates on the media bill.
Some deputies warned about the danger of majority foreign ownership of
the media in Croatia.
Slaven Letica of the Party of Rights (HSP) club of deputies stated
that "media colonialism" had already affected numerous global print
and electronic media.
He advocated previous regulations on maximum concentration under which
a newspaper publisher can buy more media shares if before
privatisation his company already accounts for 40 percent of the
relevant market.
"This is a national interest. Otherwise, what could happen in the near
future is for Slobodna Dalmacija to be issued in the Cyrillic script
and be owned by somebody from Belgrade".
(Hina) rml sb