Around 100 reporters gathered on Tuesday evening in downtown Zagreb for a protest rally on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, saying that journalism was a public good without which democracy would not be possible.
Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) president Zdenko Duka said that by advocating better and more truthful reporting journalists were also fighting for the well-being of all citizens.
Croatian Journalists' Union (SNH) leader Gabrijela Galic said free journalism could not exist without the minimum social rights for journalists. She recalled that negotiations on a national collective agreement for media employees had been suspended after years of work because employers did not want to ensure basic rights for media employees.
Anton Filic, a union representative in Vecernji List daily, whose reporters recently ended a 26-day strike over discontinued negotiations on a collective agreement, said that the reporters who had been on strike were now being humiliated because some of them were being reassigned or their columns were no longer published.
A representative of Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) employees, Elizabeta Gojan, warned that the latest surveys showed that Croatia was behind Slovenia, Montenegro and Serbia in terms of media freedoms, and that of the neighbouring countries, only Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia were behind Croatia.
She said that people who made decisions on media policies were giving prominent positions to reporters who were easy to manipulate, while preventing any criticism based on arguments.
Carrying banners with messages calling for respect for their labour rights and freedom of their profession, the protesting journalists walked from the intersection of Bogoviceva Street and Gajeva Street to Perkovceva Street, where the HND offices are located and where earlier in the day awards were presented to journalists for World Press Freedom Day.
