New Political Pressure on Croatian TV

16 December 2005

During the debate on the Annual Report of Operations of Croatian Radio-Television and its Programming Council in the Croatian Sabor, the representatives of the governing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Democratic Centre (DC), but also the opposition Croatian Rights Party (HSP), strogly criticized the operations and programmes of Croatian TV.

One of the main causes of such a strong approach was the HRT�s programme �Latinica� of last Monday, which discussed the issue of political heritage of former President Franjo Tudjman, which presented him in a very negative light. The MPs demanded from the HRT Director to present a special report on this programme, and many of them, including the Speaker of the Parlieament, said that it was a forgery of historical events.

Director Mirko Galic, in his report on �Latinica� agreed that the programme was prepared and produced with disregard to professional standards, it was biased, superficial and tendentious.

HDZ and HSP criticized the Annual Report of Operations and demanded from the Programming Council to restore order in terms of professional reporting and political neutrality of the public broadcaster. Several MPs also mentioned the high salaries of HRT employees, while Andrija Hebrang from HDZ proposed an extraordinary visit of tax authorities and financial police.

Opposition MPs � Socialdemocratic Party, Croatian People�s Party and others, commented that the debate was an attempt by the Government coalition to replace the Director General of the public broadcaster and reestablish the political control over HRT they lost after 2000.

That opinion is shared by the Media Council of the Croatian Helsinki Committee and the Croatian Journalist Association (HND). HND, in its statement for the media, claims that this is a case of direct pressure on a public media outlet. Although they are convinced in the good intentions of some of the criticism, HND reminds that the Parliament is not competent, in any way, to define or interfere in the editorial policy of public television.

HHO adds that the primary objective to Croatian Television would be the fact that it lost its function as public service broadcaster, but that problem is disregarded in favour of political pragmatism of suspicious value.