ZAGREB, April 30 (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament on Friday adopted in a qualified-majority vote a new Law on the Media.
ZAGREB, April 30 (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament on Friday adopted in
a qualified-majority vote a new Law on the Media.#L#
The law was suspended by the Constitutional Court last year for
procedural reasons as the last parliament passed it in a 'normal'
majority vote instead of by qualified majority, which is required by
the Constitution in case of adoption of organic laws.
The government sent the law back to parliament for adoption under
urgent procedure, proposing some changes, including a stricter
provision on ownership concentration on the print media market.
The government rejected amendments by the Social Democratic Party
(SDP) and the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), which requested that the
provision be softened. The Agency for the Protection of Market
Competition will in the future investigate any new concentration and
any merger resulting in a media owner gaining ownership of more than
40 percent of sold dailies or weeklies will be considered illegal.
The government and later the parliamentary majority also rejected
amendments tabled by several clubs of deputies requesting that the law
again incorporate the obligation binding a media company to publish
its programming plan as well as the provision releasing reporters from
the obligation to reveal their source if so ordered by a court.
The law was supported by 84 deputies, 14 were against, mostly from the
SDP, the Peasant Party (HSS) and the HSP, and two abstained.
(Hina) rml