CROATIAN TELEVISION DIRECTOR GUARANTEES IMPARTIALITY

( Editorial: --> 4341 ) SARAJEVO, Aug 18 (Hina) - Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) general director, Ivica Vrkic, on Monday expressed guarantee to the deputy high international representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jacques Klein, that the television's programme during the period before Bosnian elections would have a balanced conduct towards all parties involved in the elections and would not endorse the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH). A spokesman for the Office of the High Representative (ORH), Rida Attarashani, told a news conference on Tuesday that Vrkic had also met representatives of the independent Media Commission presided over by Kirsten Thelin. The OHR holds that HRT programmes have significant influence over the public in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and thus, on the upcoming elections. The HRT provides explicit endorsement to the HDZ BiH, Attarashani said. Vrkic pledged such conduct would cease and that he, personally, would see to it that HRT programmes, especially political shows, such as "Motrista", enable a fair and equal approach to representatives of all Croat political parties and candidates in Bosnia-Herzegovina. There were of course, other issues of the HRT's presence in Bosnia- Herzegovina, such as the legality of broadcasts, transmission frequency issues and so on, but these are problems for the Independent Media Commission, Attarashani said. Asked what would be done should the promise not be fulfilled, he said various measures were being considered, but he refused to say precisely which. He recalled criticism about these issues forwarded to Zagreb by the European troika and the US embassy. The OHR does not have jurisdiction in Croatia, but the jurisdiction of the Council for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement reaches much further than Westendorp (High Representative) himself, because it relates to Croatia as a signatory to the Dayton Agreement. Zagreb is very much aware of the international community stance and of the necessity for the situation to improve, including the presence of HRT programmes in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, what is more important, their contents, Attarashani said. (hina) lml 181401 MET aug 98