REPORTERS AGAINST SABOR SETTING ELECTIONEERING COVERAGE RULES

ZAGREB, Nov 21 (Hina) - Seventy-two reporters of Croatian Television (HTV) have sent a letter to parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic informing him that they are no longer willing to have parliament set regulations on media election campaign coverage. #L# The Croatian Journalists' Society (HND) supported the reporters' position, especially their position that parliamentary rules for election campaign coverage by the electronic media with national licences are questioning "the credibility of the journalistic profession". The journalists who signed the letter said that they were reacting publicly at the end of the election campaign so that, as law-abiding citizens and professionals, they would not jeopardise the position of their employer or the course of the campaign. The reporters describe the rules, in the drawing up of which they were not consulted, as disgraceful and denigrating for the journalistic profession, stating that by prescribing election campaign coverage rules the parliament "has made it clear that it does not trust reporters". Television programmes have become absurd due to these rules and none of the election candidates or the journalists' association have reacted to that, the reporters said. (hina) rml sb