CROATIA NEEDS MEDIA OMBUDSMAN - SAYS JOURNALISM PROFESSOR

ZAGREB, Feb 7 (Hina) - The media space in Croatia is very shaky and ethically undefined, ombudsman Ante Klaric has said when asked to comment on frequent media attacks on individuals and groups.#L# Klaric says his forthcoming report to parliament will not contain anything about the media breaching human rights since during his eight-year term, not one citizen has asked for the protection of their rights from media harassment. Klaric says that in Austria the ombudsman for the media speaks about the problems within his field on television once a week. According to Stjepan Malovic, who teaches journalism and the journalistic ethic at the Zagreb Faculty of Political Science, Croatia should have a commissioner for the media or a press council. He says harassment by the media is one of the graver forms of human rights violations, and that Croatia should apply the models of the West, where media freedom is great but so is their responsibility. Professor Malovic says the media attacks on individuals and their privacy are the result of a drop in professional standards, the overstepping of ethical principles, the merciless fight for copy and the trend of tabloid journalism. He maintains that all parts of society, not just journalists and consumers, should tackle the problem. On the same topic, the Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanic, asks how much Croatian citizens are protected from journalists and the media, and says one should give serious consideration to the ethical standards of Croatia media. The Glas koncila religious weekly cautions its latest editorial about the "impudence of some media" which it says foment "hate speech", notably in their criticism of the disapproval bishops have recently voiced about safe-sex education in schools. Citing Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights data, former Culture Minister Antun Vujic said late last year that in 2003 the media failed to publish 900 requested corrections, while Committee chairman Zarko Puhovski says the figure revolves around 100. Puhovski adds that corrections are not published where and under the conditions the law stipulates. (Hina) ha