ZAGREB, Feb 6 (Hina) - Most party benches in the Croatian parliament on Thursday supported a bill on Croatian Radio Television (HRT) in its second reading, announcing that they would submit amendments. The benches consider the bill a
good basis for HRT's financial stability and political independence and a guarantee that the public will have good and objective information.
ZAGREB, Feb 6 (Hina) - Most party benches in the Croatian parliament
on Thursday supported a bill on Croatian Radio Television (HRT) in
its second reading, announcing that they would submit amendments.
The benches consider the bill a good basis for HRT's financial
stability and political independence and a guarantee that the
public will have good and objective information. #L#
The bill was not backed by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and
the Croatian Bloc (HB) which believe that the main reason it is
being discussed is the fact that the current government wants to
strengthen its political influence on HRT in the election year.
The Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and Democratic Centre (DC)
benches made their support for the bill conditional on the adoption
of their amendments.
Jadranka Kosor (HDZ bench) objected to the fact that the bill did
not include clear criteria for the election of the Programme
Council, which she said made room for political manipulation and
abuse of authority.
"It is not noted anywhere that the Council members should be
involved in journalism or be familiar with HRT's work. There are
over 20,000 civil associations in Croatia, do all of them meet the
criteria for membership in the Council?" Kosor asked.
The HB bench believes that the bill reflects the authorities'
intention to take control of HRT because "the elections are getting
closer and the government needs HRT to be under its influence as an
ace up its sleeve", Krunoslav Gasparic said.
Ivan Cehok (HSLS) believes that transitional provisions of the bill
are contentious because they envisage that the current HRT director
has the right to appoint temporary editors until the new ones are
elected in line with the new law.
Vesna Skare Ozbolt (DC) announced an amendment under which the bill
would have to specify that the HRT Programme Council can consist
only of experts who would be elected with a five- instead of a four-
year mandate.
Ivo Skrabalo (Libra) proposed that members of the Programme Council
be elected by the Sabor by secret ballot and that the election
procedure be regulated by the law.
The Istrian Democratic Alliance (IDS) bench announced an amendment
under which the law on HRT could take effect only after the coming
elections or early next year. "This way, no one would be able to say
that the law is adopted for election purposes," Damir Kajin said.
Nenad Stazic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) bench argued that
contributions from TV subscriptions for the Media Pluralism Fund
should be decreased from three to two per cent. He also argued that
HRT's statute should be confirmed by the Sabor.
Zlatko Kramaric of the Liberal Party (LS) proposed that a
feasibility study should be conducted into the possibility of
privatising all three HTV channels while minority deputy Zdenka
Cuhnil believes that one should enable better representation of
regional and minority programmes on both television and radio.
(hina) sp rml sb