COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEDIA EXPERTS ON CRO RADIO & TV LAW

ZAGREB, Nov 4 (Hina) - The current legal framework regulating electronic media activity in Croatia is an obstacle to the creation and enforcement of a coherent broadcasting policy, which has resulted in less pluralism and a slowed growth of cable radio and television stations. This evaluation was made by Council of Europe media experts in a report on Croatia's final bill on changes and amendments to the Law on Croatia Radio-Television (HRT), which the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Croatia forwarded to the Croatian government and parliament last week. The report was made by Karol Jakubowitz, deputy chairman of the Permanent Committee for Television Without Frontiers at the Council of Europe, at a request of Croatian parliament vice president Vladimir Seks. According to Jakubowitz, "there is effective state monopoly of nation-wide broadcasting" in Croatia. He recommends the "creation of an autonomous Broadcasting and Telecommunications Council (...) serving the public interest instead of narrow political or administrative interests." To achieve this it is necessary to change the legal framework, as neither the current Law on HRT, nor the final bill on changes and amendments to it, allow for this possibility, Jakubowitz said in the report. Speaking about the said bill, adopted by the Croatian Upper House without insight into his report, the Council of Europe official stated that only a small number of amendments were compliant with recommendations made by the Council's media experts. Jakubowitz said many more important changes were necessary. Article 1 of the final bill claims HRT has been founded for the sake of broadcasting programmes of importance for the Republic. Jakubowitz believes this could serve as an excuse for state control of the programmes of an undisputably public institution. The excuse for a daily programme control may likewise be derived from the claim that HRT is "owned by the Republic of Croatia", said Jakubowitz. The final bill's Article 12 states that one Council of Europe recommendation has been adopted, in the part suggesting that "representatives of Parliament should constitute a minority (10 out of 24) of HRT Council members." What is not good, according to Jakubowitz, is the fact that the parliament will continue to have the right of vetoing the appointment of public figures into the HRT Council. According to the report, another weakness in the final bill is the fact that the HRT Council's powers have not been extended sufficiently, especially the fact that the HRT Council will not have the right to appoint a general director, a matter under the parliament's jurisdiction. Jakubowitz however commended the final bill's proposal that the HRT Council appoint editors-in-chief of both radio and television who cannot be party officials. OSCE spokesman Mark Thompson said last week that Jakubowitz's assessments should be of use during a parliamentary debate on the final bill, drafted by the bench of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Since the final bill has been adopted, the OSCE mission forwarded the Council of Europe report to the government and the parliament for possible future discussions. (hina) ha