CROATIAN DELEGATION ATTENDS MEDIA CONFERENCE IN GREECE

( Editorial: --> 7703 ) SALONIKA, Dec 11 (Hina) - Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Ljerka Mintas-Hodak on Thursday addressed a two-day ministerial conference on the media, which opened in the Greek city of Salonika on Wednesday. Speaking of the importance of new information technologies for the idea of human rights and freedom of speech, Mintas-Hodak said that old concepts and definitions were becoming questionable. Simultaneously with the strengthening of freedom of the media, technological development makes difficult the application of mechanisms of regulation which are part of that freedom, she said. We have to be careful if we want to succeed in precisely drawing a line between the defence of freedoms and the right to speech on the one hand and any form of censorship on the other. The Italian delegation submitted a report on the significance of new technologies for human rights and democratic values. France and Britain submitted introductory reports on needs for new legislation in the sphere of the media. (hina) vm jn 112001 MET dec 97