Croatia: HRT management to dismiss journalists and reform Ethical Council

The European Federation of Journalists together with its affiliate from Croatia, the Croatian Association of Journalists (CJA), have expressed their concerns over threats by the acting general manager of Croatian public broadcaster, HRT, Siniša Kovačić to dismiss journalist Sanja Mikleušević Pavić. Kovačić also initiated another dismissal procedure against Mirna Zidarić, president of HRT Ethical Council. The CJA has criticised the unprofessional behaviour of the acting HRT management, which had been confirmed by the joint International mission to Croatia in June , to which the EFJ participated. On September 23, the  HRT Ethical Council agreed that Sanja Mikleušević Pavić,  who is president of CJA Branch…

EFJ calls on MEPs to strengthen independence of audio-visual regulators in Europe

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today expressed growing concerns over recent amendments to weaken the independence of national regulatory authorities in the review of the EU regulation on audio-visual media (AVMSD Directive 2010/13/EU). The EFJ has called on Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to reject amendments that would weaken the independence of national regulatory authorities and the  European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA). Ricardo Gutiérrez, EFJ General Secretary, said, ‘‘We are very surprised to see several amendments attempting to weaken the provision to guarantee the independence of national regulatory authorities. This is completely contradictory to…