CONFERENCE ON LAW ON MEDIA ENDS IN OPATIJA

OPATIJA, Feb 7 (Hina) - Croatia needs a unified law on media, but before it is adopted, an extensive discussion should be held by legal and media experts, as well as reporters, concluded participants of an international round table conference entitled "What Kind of Media Law do We Want?" which ended in Opatija on Thursday. Croatian Culture Minister Antun Vujic yesterday presented theses for the drawing up of a new, unified law on media. The law, said Vujic, would cover the Law on Public Information and regulate issues of other media areas, such as the laws on telecommunications, the Croatian Radio and Television and Hina. The theses for the new law which were drawn up by the Culture Ministry with the assistance of media experts bring about a number of novelties concerning the regulation of the work of the media and the consolidation of their independence. The proposed law aspires to separate the media from the control and politics system, as well as from pressures in the name of economic power. The three-day conference was also used to share Slovene, Hungarian and German experiences in the areas of information and media. (hina) lml