Croatia political briefing: A state of media freedom in Croatia – China
Weekly Briefing, Vol. 16, No. 1 (HR), March 2019

A state of media freedom in Croatia

Summary

The Croatian Radio Television has filed a lawsuit against its employees as a result of the publication of the Croatian Journalists’ Association press releases. In the lawsuit filed on Monday, HRT claimed compensation for “gross harmed reputation, honour and name”. The disclosure of the Croatian Journalist Association (henceforth, HND) publication entitled “The HND’s HTV branch against manipulation and irresponsible behaviour of a privileged minority”, on 11 September 2018, was the basis for the lawsuit. This resulted in a series of boycotts by certain parties and news agencies, as well as general dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, there are several reports that point to media suppression in Croatia over the last few years. The lawsuit demands compensation of 200,000 HRK from the HND and another 50,000 HRK from the HND branch president at HRT, Sanja Mikleušević Pavić.

European concerns

In January 2019, the European media organisations representatives visited Croatia to examine the problems facing the media in the country. In this two-day visit, they uncovered the deterioration of the situation since their last visit in 2016. The delegation included the South East Europe Media Organisation, the European Broadcasting Union, the European Federation of Journalists, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, Reporters Without Borders and the Association of European Journalists. The European visitors voiced their concerns in a report published in August 2016, called “Croatia: Media Freedom in Turbulent Times”. This revealed the various pressures on journalists, including political pressure on the national broadcaster, the Croatian Radio Television (HRT), and cuts to the public funding of non-profit media. Another case concerning HRT mentioned is the re-scheduling of a comedy film, Ministry of Love, after associations of war widows deemed it “offensive”. The War Veterans Ministry failed to deny reports that the minister had urged HRT not to show the film, which – if true – would represent a breach of law, which states that the broadcaster should be “free of any political pressure”. Mentioned in the report were other cases of threats, such as the threats after the suicide of Bosnian-Croat general Slobodan Praljak. Media outlets and journalists in both Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina received threats for reporting on the issue. The 2017 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, placed Croatia 74th on the global list. Bulgaria is the only EU country in a worse position, placed in the 109th place.

In January, the Belgian Member of the European Parliament and the leader of the liberal-centrist Alliance of Liberals for Europe group in the European parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, slammed the Croatian public broadcaster HRT for filing lawsuits against its own journalists and called on HRT to “stop pressuring their employees and the Croatian Journalists’ Association”. Verhofstadt posted his comment on his Twitter profile, calling the “freedom of the press as one of the cornerstones of a free society”, in addition to calling for HRT to withdraw the lawsuits.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), they expressed concerns about the HRT boycott organised by HND and various civil society associations and political parties. This resulted in the ban of HRT from accessing a media conference on 25th of February. They claimed that a strong public service is important for a healthy democracy. They also claimed that the public services must have the right to perform their duties freely and without limitation so that viewers and listeners have access to the most important news and information.

Who supported the boycott?

Around thirty civil society organisations have publicly called for a two-week boycott of HRT to point out the overwhelming situation in which the public service sues media and journalists. One of the key organisations in the process is GONG, a civil society organization founded in 1997 to encourage citizens to participate more actively in political processes. All organisations supporting the boycott announced that until the journalistic protest, which occurred on 2 March 2019 said they would not participate in the HRT program, neither by appearing in the HRT studios, nor by giving statements in front of HRT cameras. In this way, they joined the request of the HND, seeking to dismiss all lawsuits against journalists and media. Due to these claims, the HRT raised at least 36, and the total amount of required claims for public services approximated to 2.3 million HRK.

On Monday, 25 February 2019, the Independent Trade Unions of Croatia (henceforth, SSSH) reported that it will join the civil society organisations in a boycott of the Croatian Radio Television and will not make statements, participate in studio debates until the protest. SSSH stated:

Media work and freedom in Croatia are severely endangered by numerous lawsuits, political pressures, threats, advertiser’s demands, endangered professional rights, and the disrespect of the law. Freedom of reporting and freedom of expression is a basic required tool and purpose of media work and is indispensable for a democratic society, which has the well-being of its citizens and workers as its focus (SSSH).

In addition, just a day after Social Democratic Party announced that they are going to support the boycott, an incident happened at the SDP press conference. The president of SDP Zagreb Gordan Maras asked HRT reporters to leave the conference. He expressed embarrassment about the situation and stated, “The public has to know that we are in agreement with our colleagues. This nothing personal against our colleagues here from HRT”.

The president of HND Zdravko Zovko reacted, saying that Gordan Maras made a wrong decision:

HND does not in any way support the arbitrary closure and disabling access to journalists in the field, no matter which media outlet they belong to. The boycott that a few days ago, along with a series of civil society organizations and unions initiated the GONG, does not imply censorship of journalists, and this is what the SDP deputy did today. The HND warned, asking the politicians not to abuse the journalist protest for their goals, and especially those who have had the opportunity – while in position – to do much more to improve the media situation in Croatia and unfortunately did not.

The protest

Croatian reporters and media outlets staged a protest in Zagreb on 2 March 2019 in defence of media freedom. The protest slogan was, “You’ve taken the media, but we’re not giving up journalism”! Protesters went on a walk to the Ministry of Culture, which is responsible for the media sector, then to the Zagreb University and finally to St Mark’s Square, which houses the buildings of the parliament and government.

The protesting journalists and the Croatian Journalists’ Association handed the government a document entitled “Eight demands against censorship”. They called on the authorities to: stop the misuse of court lawsuits as a form of pressure; protect within the scope of law those journalists publicise the pressures they under; change the leadership of the public broadcaster, HRT; and change the law and introduce public support for quality journalism. In addition, they claimed that the Croatian government is largely responsible for this because of its silence and unwillingness to improve the situation.

Prime minister reaction

When asked about the possible politicisation of the journalist protests, Andrej Plenković said that nothing unexpected happened. He also added:

The entire protest attempted to be used by the parties that are today in opposition to some of their political gains on the subject, which I repeat what I said this morning, I think it is absolutely over-dimensioned. I do not think there is censorship in Croatia. I think to put the thesis in 2019 that there is no freedom of media in Croatia is a bit ridiculous, not only incorrect, but ridiculous. I think, when you really look at all of you together, you can testify better than I do.

Conclusion

Gordana Vilovic, a professor at the Faculty of Political Science, also warned of the bad state of the media. Vilovic criticised the “national televisions, claiming that public television has become state-run. In adition the mainstream media have become ready-made and all look to each other, which cannot provide the development of a democratic society “.

In the end, we face an intriguing situation, where the national media outlet is going against its own employees and going against the main media organisation in the country using the subscribers’ money. This is a precedent situation for the entirety of Europe.

What is most worrying is the lack of government interest in resolving this new problem. At this point, the government is denying any problems, claiming that media censorship does not exist because Croatia is a modern country where this is not possible.

Meanwhile, the Solidarity Foundation invites all people of good will and awareness of the importance of civic solidarity to involve donations in direct crisis support for journalists, whistle-blowers, war veterans and victims of human rights violations. On that occasion, they formed a Solidarity Crisis Fund called ‘Solidarka’ designed to provide first aid to victims of human rights violations, journalists, activists, whistle-blowers and those left alone or exposed to administrative, political and social pressures.