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COMMENT: A Croatian Press Council Will Benefit Everyone

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23 11 2006  This long overdue initiative needs more support than it is getting, if it is to get off the ground.

By Stjepan Malovic in Zagreb (Balkan Insight, 23 Nov 06)

After years of debate over how best to uphold media ethics, Croatian journalists last week finally agreed to set up a Press Council.

Despite gaining the approval on November 17 of the general assembly of the journalists’ association, the HND, there still seems to be scepticism about this self-regulatory body.

Many journalists appear reluctant to sign up to any code that they fear may interfere with their work or freedom of expression.

We believe the opposite is true. An effective Press Council will protect reporters from political and business interests seeking to influence them.

Of course, journalists’ worries about attempts to rein them in reflect years of bitter experience. Only days ago, crowds assembled in Zagreb’s Ban Jelacic square to mark the tenth anniversary of the protests against attempts to silence Radio 101, a lone independent voice in the 1990s.

If political pressures have receded today, they have only made way for different pressures from the business sector. Freedom House rightly described the Croatian media as only “partly free” in its 2006 report on world press freedom. The EU made a similar assessment in its November 8 report on Croatia.

Journalists, media owners and the public must unite to revive professionalism. After numerous meetings to discuss the problem and almost two years of research and analysis, the model of a Press Council has been selected to reverse negative trends.

Initiated by the Croatian Helsinki Committee’s Media Council and supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the decision to establish the Croatian Press Council was formally adopted on October 29 and has now been approved by the most important and influential journalists’ association.

The involvement of all media actors was sought throughout and efforts made to explain to the public all possible ways in which it might uphold standards in journalism.

So it is a pity, just as the chosen model is ready for public presentation, that very media that should be supporting it have barely mentioned it in their reports.

Even the participants at the HND general assembly paid the initiative little attention, though it could have a major influence on the future of the media and position of journalists in Croatia.

Why was an important decision reported so modestly? Do journalists not understand what it is about, are they wary of the idea of self-regulation, or are they afraid of yet another undercover method to control the media? Or does it come down to the key players, namely the government, political parties and the major companies that own and advertise in the media?

Possibly, they wonder who this group of individuals proposing major changes really is, with nobody behind them but a German foundation.

Although everyone complains about the excesses in the media and its deficiencies, many are now asking what was wrong with the way we dealt with problems until now.

To date, the only recourse for breaches of journalistic ethics has been the courts or the HND Council of Honour. But the courts’ track record when it comes to libel is shameful and in any case judicial action should be only a last resort, dealing with wayward elements in the press.

When it comes to protecting journalistic ethics, the Council of Honour is not a bad instrument. But it is an institution of the HND alone. No media owners or publishers are involved in its processes of self–regulation and no director, manager or producer comes under its jurisdiction.

It is no longer enough for journalists to judge other journalists. Publishers, through the editors they select, are also responsible for reporting standards. Cases are frequent in which managers expect journalists to ignore their ethical codes to achieve certain ends. The journalists have no alternative but to obey or lose their jobs. It leaves the public feeling that journalists do not respect their own media ethics; all too often they are unaware of the pressures reporters face in the newsrooms.

A Press Council based on a model common throughout Europe is the best way to remedy this situation and preserve media freedom. This is because it regulates professional and ethical standards through a voluntary, tripartite institution.

Nobody can be forced to accept its authority. Each journalists’ association, media company and individual will voluntarily join the Press Council and accept its ethical code and rulings.

The only sanction against media companies who do not sign up will be the bar of public opinion: if consumers of the media are convinced of the credibility of the Press Council, they will doubt the credibility of media who refuse to accept its role.

The second major principle of the Press Council is the inclusion of all media practitioners and owners as well as representatives of the public in its structure. This brings balance and credibility, for this model recognises that the public should have a say.

Everyone benefits. Journalists will be protected from having to violate their professional ethics on the orders of their paymasters, for the Press Council will condemn such violations, directly affecting the credibility of the media concerned. At the same time, the body will be able to help media companies to address unethical reporting before it becomes the subject of potentially expensive judicial processes.

We are still at the beginning when it comes to getting this institution up and running. After the endorsement of the HND, it is now the turn of the Croatian Association of Newspaper Publishers, HUNI, to decide whether to support the initiative, morally and financially.

Until now, this association has had a positive opinion about a Press Council. If HUNI accepts the Press Council, it will ask all media companies to reach their own decisions.

It is essential that journalists show support for the project and give it public exposure. A broad base of professional and public support will help us to create a truly efficient body that can protect the ethics and freedom of the Croatian press to the benefit of all.

Stjepan Malovic is professor of journalism at Dubrovnik University and director of the International Center for Education of Journalists, ICEJ. He has led the initiative to establish a Croatian Press Council. Balkan Insight is BIRN’s online publication.