The HND Executive Board met on Thursday to discuss the indictments against three Croatian journalists and decided that it would inform the European Federation of Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists and the Hague tribunal of its conclusions on the matter.
The Board also discussed dissatisfaction expressed by some journalists with this year's media awards, concluding that the jury for the electronic media "worked in good faith, but made procedural omissions."
The HND said in a statement that the Executive Board concluded that the omissions made by the jury did not compromise the awards, but that they required a review of the award criteria.
The HND Board said it would do all it could within the Constitutional Law on Cooperation with the ICTY to assist the journalists indicted for contempt of court, although they are not members of the HND.
"The HND Executive Board is of the view that, in conformity with the practice of the International Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the publication of confidential documents, in this case testimonies by protected witnesses, is justified if there is the justified interest of the public."
The Board conceded that "this could have been done without revealing the identity of protected witnesses, which threatened their safety and discouraged other potential witnesses" but added that "the fact that the identity of the protected witness in question was revealed earlier, without any response from the ICTY Office of the Prosecutor, should be taken into consideration as an extenuating circumstance."
"The HND Executive Board is of the view that the Hague tribunal, taking into account the attained degree of media freedom in Croatia, the Croatian initiative and European practice, could in the interests of justice be satisfied with apologies from the accused," the statement said.