HRT COUNCIL DISCUSSES FORUM 21 RESOLUTION ( Editorial: --> 0969 )

( Editorial: --> 0969 ) ZAGREB, Nov 14 (Hina) - The Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) Council on Friday called on HRT journalists who had signed a resolution of "Forum 21", a group of journalists calling for professional and open electronic media, to state whether they accepted HRT programme orientation or not. Of 24 members of the group, 13 work at the HRT. The Council resolutely rejected parts of the resolution portraying the programme and organisational structure of the HRT as a model inherited from the past political system. The Council said that it adopted its programme policy as a pluralist rather than a one-party body, and that its members were appointed by parliament. The Council stressed that it had always supported the full openness of the HRT programme in conformity with all European democratic standards. The Council recalled that every member of the HRT management board had the opportunity to present their proposals and views within the regular structure of the HRT, but that they were required to follow policies passed by the Council. During a four-hour discussion, HRT Director-General Ivica Mudrinic said that HRT management were not creating a party television, stressing that the HRT was a public company responsible to the public, which in turn is represented by parliament. Mudrinic asked why the dissatisfied journalists had not proposed to their editors what they had signed in the resolution. "I accept dialogue and discussion, but first of all I demand that people from this house discuss matters in this house, and not in the street," he said. Assistant Director for Television Mirko Galic, who is one of the signatories to the resolution, said that the Forum 21 initiative had not been launched in bad faith but that it had been inspired by a wish for the HRT to get closer to modern radio and television stations in Europe. "This is just a professionally motivated initiative which is not a political platform and does not have the ambition of a political movement or the intention of camouflaged party activity. It only poses certain questions and seeks dialogue," Galic said. Television Editor in Chief Hloverka Novak Srzic said she did not want to work with journalists who would be exerting pressure on their house every week. "Those walking the corridors of the HRT and refusing jobs adequate to their professional level, education, reputation and everything else, must be given notice," Novak Srzic said. (hina) vm jn 141951 MET nov 97