$ ZAGREB, 11 Oct (Hina) - Croatia has achieved a lot when it comes to democratization and freedom of media, but there is still a lot of space for improving the situation, a Council of Europe representative Guido de Marco told
reporters in Zagreb Friday.
MARCO
$
ZAGREB, 11 Oct (Hina) - Croatia has achieved a lot when it comes
to democratization and freedom of media, but there is still a lot
of space for improving the situation, a Council of Europe
representative Guido de Marco told reporters in Zagreb Friday.
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De Marco is heading a Council of Europe Monitoring
Committee delegation, which on Thursday arrived in Croatia for a
four-day visit. The Monitoring Committee is in charge of
following the fulfilment of undertaken obligations by Council of
Europe member countries.
The delegation met with representatives of the Croatian
media in Parliament on Friday night. The Council of Europe
representatives were especially interested in freedom of media
and how Croatian media are adjusted to democratic norms.
I personally think that when it comes to the media, there
is room for improvement in every country, and I don't think that
Croatia is an exception, de Marco said.
Stressing that Croatia had left behind two dramatic events,
the communist dictatorship and a war for independence, de Marco
estimated that things were moving forward strongly.
There are obviously many things that should be done and
the media will continue to give their contribution in order to
secure a strong democracy, he said.
Asked about concrete actions that should be made with the
aim of improving the media situation, de Marco said he would
speak about that in his report to be submitted after his return
to Strasbourg.
De Marco said that during his earlier talks he had heard
that the press in Croatia was mainly free, while the situation in
the electronic media was judged unfavourable.
The talks in Parliament focused on the issue of freedom and
independence of Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) and actual
opportunities of Croatian journalists to work freely.
The representatives of the so-called state and independent
media were opposed on this matter.
HRT general director Ivica Mudrinic said that the situation
during the war had been different and the media, including HRT,
had had the same position as the authorities, as it was the
survival of Croatia that was in question.
Now, the media would be able to develop as elsewhere in the
democratic world, Mudrinic said.
Asked to comment on a remark concerning HRT's monopoly on
media space, Mudrinic said that the appearance of new stations on
the level of the whole country could be expected in the future,
which would provide competition for HRT.
Radio 101 editor-in-chief Zrinka Vrabec-Mojzes said that
the governing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party was setting
obstacles, with the aim of denying Radio 101 the right to a
frequency for broadcasting its program. She also added that the
future of Radio 101 was not secure.
Radio 101 is one of the truly independent media in Croatia,
Vrabec-Mojzes said, adding that Croatian authorities were
accusing of treason everyone who insisted on the question of
media freedom in Croatia.
HRT was completely under control of the governing HDZ and
it served as an instrument for HDZ promotion, Vrabec-Mojzes said.
HRT's Mudrinic said that the criticism directed towards HRT
was to some extent justified, but was mainly the expression of
standpoints of different interest groups.
A report provided by independent persons would give
completely different results, Mudrinic said.
The main obstacle to the strengthening of freedom of the
electronic media was the Council for Telecommunications, where,
out of nine members, six were HDZ members and had the power to
decide whom to grant broadcast concessions, Vrabec-Mojzes said.
The president of the Croatian Journalists' Association and
the head of the 'Novi list' office in Zagreb, Jagoda Vukusic,
said that there had been some progress in the Croatian media in
the last 12 moths.
She praised the Information Law as very liberal.
However, the Penal Code recently adopted treated the
freedom of public expression as it had been treated in the last
40 years, Vukusic said. That was the reason why the Croatian
Journalists' Association would demand changes of the Law before
it goes into effect on January 1, 1998.
Vukusic estimated that the situation in the press was
better than the one in the electronic media, which was, she said,
much worse due to HRT's monopoly.
Speaking about his weekly, the head of the 'Feral Tribune'
office in Zagreb, Milan Gavrovic, said the paper was being
stifled in two ways - through charges public attorneys have to
issue in line with a law which protects the five highest state
officials against libel as well as economically, through a whole
set of private charges, with the overall compensation claims
amounting to 4 million German marks.
A hearing had been set in the repeated trial of 'Feral
Tribune' editor-in-chief Viktor Ivancic, for libel against the
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, Gavrovic said.
Ivancic had been pronounced not guilty in a court of first
instance trial, but the appeals court annulled the verdict,
Gavrovic said, adding that Ivancic was being tried for verbal
offence.
'Vecernji list' editor-in-chief Branko Tudjen said that
everyone could find its own space in Croatia, while the head of
the 'Vjesnik' office for foreign issues said that the main
problem of reporters was how to obtain information, as state
officials were not fulfilling their obligation to provide the
public with information.
The Council of Europe delegation also met with
representatives of non-government associations Friday night.
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