ZAGREB, May 3 (Hina) - The international organisation "Reporters Without Borders" released an annual report on media freedom in the world on Monday, marking World Press Freedom Day.
ZAGREB, May 3 (Hina) - The international organisation "Reporters
Without Borders" released an annual report on media freedom in the
world on Monday, marking World Press Freedom Day.#L#
In a section dealing with Croatia, the organisation said that further
progress had been made with regard to freedom of the media.
The report cited a bill from July 2003 proposing that journalists be
punished with a prison sentence of up to one year for defamation
through the media. The bill set off an uproar and was eventually
scrapped.
The document recalled attempts at amending Article 203 of the Criminal
Code, and said that the Media Act passed in October 2003 guaranteed
press freedom and journalists' rights, but that it further restricted
access to information and reduced the protection of journalistic
sources.
The report mentioned Ninoslav Pavic, co-owner of the country's biggest
media group, Europa Press Holding, who was targeted by a bomb that
went off under his car in February 2003. It noted that the police
investigation did not reveal either the motive or the perpetrators of
the attack.
Also cited was the questioning by the police of the editor-in-chief of
the weekly Nacional, Ivo Pukanic, in connection with an interview
published in June last year with fugitive general Ante Gotovina, who
is wanted by the Hague war crimes tribunal.
The report further noted that progress was also registered in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, but that major restrictions were imposed on the
media in Serbia-Montenegro, especially after the assassination of
prime minister Zoran Djindjic.
(Hina) vm