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26. 04. 2014

CROATIAN LEGISLATION HAS NEW FORMULA FOR DISCIPLINING JOURNALISTS

26.4.2014 (Večernje novosti; By J. Kerbler) - Journalist Slavica Lukić has already been convicted by the court of first instance, while 42 Croatian journalists are awaiting trial for, as the law says, „shaming". Verbal act has thus found its way back into Croatia and instilled fear into already frustrated journalists who are not safe any more although they write the truth.

„Shaming" is a new formula for disciplining journalists, mainly by powerful interest groups. Lukić was sued and convicted because she wrote that private clinic „Medikol" had received money from the Croatian Health Insurance Fund, which is an indisputable fact, but... Additionally, Lukić's claim that „Medikol" is an insecure company, despite a huge amount money it received from the state, also worked against her as it was labeled as „shaming". Therefore, the journalist was right in all the presented facts, but she could not adhere to the Criminal Code which has a new category - „shaming".

However, the state, which adopted this law, is not ashamed of it. Nevertheless, the government of Zoran Milanović, after pressures on the media, is now considering changes to the law, but mainly because Croatia, with such legislation, could be shamed in Europe, rather than because of local needs.

Croatian Journalists' Association claims that the criminal act of „shaming" is a threat to freedom of speech and that it can cause problems not only to journalists, but to every citizen.

Journalists say that those who pursued them in the past due to verbal act are doing the same now. However, this time they are better organised, with the clear intention to instill fear into journalists and prevent them from writing the truth because threats with severe punishments are more lethal for journalists nowadays than anything else. Croatian journalists are also having a hard time because of politicians' skirmishes. The best example is the private lawsuit of the mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandić against Zoran Milanović, the Prime Minister, for the Prime Minister's statements which accused Bandić of corruption. Several journalists will also undergo trial, among them editor-in-chief of „Novi list" Branko Mijić and former editor at the Croatian Television Zoran Šprajc, only because they carried the words of the Prime Minister.

Dangerous Commentary

Television journalists Stipe Alfir and Damir Smrtić were fined because they commented on the recent referendum on marriage saying on the public service broadcaster that the referendum is „backward", and that Croatia is two hours away from England, but still a thousand light years from it.