"FORUM 21" CALLS FOR TRANSFORMATION OF HRT INTO PUBLIC TELEVISION ( Editorial: --> 1589 )

( Editorial: --> 1589 ) ZAGREB, Nov 18 (Hina) - Members of "Forum 21", an initiative launched recently by 22 journalists working in the electronic media, reiterated their request on Monday evening that the Croatian national television (HRT) should be transformed into public television and that its monopoly should cease. "Forum 21", a union of journalists in electronic media, who are members of the Croatian Journalists' Society, presented for the first time their requests on November 6. Most of these journalists work in the HRT. At their first panel held on Monday evening, they demanded the cessation of political pressure exerted on journalists and the respect for standards of journalism. A freelance journalist, Igor Mirkovic, who was the moderator of Monday's debate called "HRT or Public Television", rejected labels of the Forum 21 as a group of putscists. He also expressed satisfaction with the number of reactions to the Forum 21 demands. The president of the Croatian Journalists' Society, Jagoda Vukusic, said that journalists must struggle for achieving high professional standards regardless of the fact who is the owner of the media where they work. An HRT journalist, Damir Matkovic, advocated the objective reporting, as it is proposed by law. He opposed the pursuance of either state or any particular politics by the HRT. He claimed that the HRT was still serving more politics than the public. Drago Krpina, a member of the HRT council and a parliamentary deputy of the ruling HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) party, denied a thesis of Forum 21 that the HRT was at present operating in accordance to the heritage of the former system. He described the thesis as an "absolutely unacceptable insinuation" that contained a political rather than professional connotation. He admitted that the HRT was not perfect but, he added, it did not lag behind television stations in other European countries concerning its responsibilities. Krpina portrayed the present election of the HRT council members in line with the representation of parties in the Parliament as "most adequate". Insisting on the HRT as public television, a journalist, Krsto Cviic, spoke about the British BBC whose long-standing independence was based on "the national consensus on the need for a media which is under nobody's direct control" as well as on high yearly incomes. Present at the panel were the Council of Europe mission for cultural issues, U.S. and Italian Ambassadors, and representatives of opposition political parties, non-governmental organisations for human rights protection, trade unions and scholars. (hina) mš 181118 MET nov 97