Deputy Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks said on Friday some journalists were waging a special war against him, intentionally persecuting, insulting and humiliating him without arguments, which had prompted his savage response in a Hrvatski List interview in which he called some journalists hyenas, dogs, members of the underworld and other offensive names.
"I said in that interview exactly who are the ones behaving like hyenas, dogs and piranhas, because over the past 30 days one group, and I precisely identified that group of journalists, has launched a special media war against me, crucifying, accusing and condemning me of the worst crimes without a shred of evidence," Seks told reporters in parliament.
He said those journalists were defaming him contrary to all elementary regulations of journalistic ethics.
Asked if his response might have been too harsh given his office, Seks said office did not matter when a person found themselves in his situation.
Asked to comment on the Croatian Journalists Association's (HND) assessment that his response betrayed nervousness, Seks said he had not been nervous at all and asked the HND to look at how some journalists were treating the journalistic profession and the reputation, honour and dignity of individuals.
Asked why journalists were treating him like this, he said some were working at the orders of certain interest groups. "They are supposed to throw in the mud and dethrone me as the personification of shining moments in recent Croatian history and through this dethroning they want to discredit the foundations of Croatian history as well."
The press also asked for his comment on the criminal charges for corruption which Ivica Pancic, an MP of the Croatian Social Democrats party, pressed today at the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) against the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, of which Seks is a senior official.
He said everyone could press charges on which only the State Prosecutor's Office decided. "This will be so with these criminal charges as well. I can't prejudge the outcome. This will be dealt with by the State Prosecutor's Office in a legal procedure."
Asked if he saw the charges as a blow to the HDZ, Seks said, "This is no blow to the HDZ."
His interview in Hrvatski List elicited numerous reactions among MPs.
Nenad Stazic of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) and chair of the parliamentary Media Committee said Seks had used a "horrifying glossary."
Deputy Speaker Neven Mimica, also of the SDP, said Seks' use of language had been inappropriate, regardless of the "difficult situation" he was in.
Furio Radin, who represents the Italian minority and chairs the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, said everyone could object to media reporting, but that the press were part of democracy and should be treated with dignity.
Boris Kunst of the HDZ asked the press to show understanding as Seks was under a lot of media pressure. "I believe he doesn't mean everything he said."
Josip Djakic, also of the HDZ, said he concurred with everything Seks had said.
In a statement later today, the HND condemned in the strongest terms Seks's "bestial insults" at journalists and the media.
