CRO JOURNALISTS FORM ASSOCIATION CALLED "RIGHT TO PROFESSION"

( Editorial: --> 5026 ) ZAGREB, Apr 6 (Hina) - An association of journalists called "The Right to Profession" has been established with the aim of protecting professionalism and journalistic ethics, the association's executive committee chairman, Tomislav Jakic, said Monday. The association will gather journalists of all media who could not work in journalism for various reasons since 1990 or cannot do so now. The journalists' association was established within the Croatian Journalists Society and will act as an interest group or "pressure group" aiming to mobilise the public, Jakic told reporters. He said the association will dissolve once it succeeds in building a media system which will be the foundation of democracy, when journalism regains its position as a respected profession and journalists become respected members of society. According to Luka Mitrovic, the journalists' association will draft an almanac outlining individual cases of journalists who in the last seven or eight years suffered various forms of pressure, including blacklisting, dismissals and transfers to other jobs. Asked how many journalists lost their jobs since 1990, Gojko Marinkovic said no exact data exist, but that the number is between 400 and 500. (hina) ha mm 061714 MET apr 98