MEDIA-CROATIA: Journalists Suspended over Some
Old Quotes
Inter-Press Service - December 12, 2006
By: Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE, Dec 12 (IPS) - A new debate has broken out in Croatia over freedom of
expression after two editors with the state television were suspended for airing
a clip from an old speech by President Stipe Mesic.
Danko Druzijanic and Goran Rotim of Croatian Radio-Television (HRT) were removed
over the weekend from editing prime time news by general manager of HRT Mirko
Galic for an unspecified period of time.
In the 30-second clip, taken in June 1992, Mesic spoke affirmatively about
Croatia's fascist past. He said that the newly independent Croatian state, which
was then waging a war of secession from Yugoslavia, "has nothing to apologise
for."
"Croats are now being asked to apologise, but we have nothing to apologise for.
We have won twice in the past...Once it was on April 10 (1941) when the Axis
powers recognised the Croatian state, the second time it was after World War II
when we were on the side of the winners," Mesic was seen telling a large rally
of Croatian exiles in Sydney, Australia.
Most of the exiles were descendants or sympathisers of the pro-Nazi Ustashi
regime that ruled Croatia in World War II. The Ustashi proclaimed the notorious
Independent State of Croatia (NDH) at the time.
Croatia's independence move in the 1990s was largely based on the ideology and
symbols of the NDH, which took to extermination of hundreds of thousands of
Croatian Serbs, Jews and gypsies.
However, the war ended in victory for the communist-led partisan movement, made
of Serbs, Croats, Montenegrins and other nations.
Now, broadcast of the clip has revived some of those older issues - besides
raising the issue of freedom.
The Croatian Society of Journalists (HDN) described the removal of Danko
Druzijanic and Goran Rotim as a "serious violation of right of free expression
and speech," while the Reporters without Borders said the suspension was
"disproportionate".
"We are astonished to see that the national television chief is prepared to use
self- censorship in order to please the President," the organisation said in a
statement sent to IPS.
HRT general manager Mirko Galic is a candidate for the post of ambassador to
France. The posting needs to be approved by top officials, among them President
Mesic.
In a statement to Croatian media over the weekend, Galic strongly denied the
allegation that the suspension "had anything to do with the pending decision."
He described the airing of the clip as "an act of non-professionalism."
Both Druzijanic and Rotim say they worked in accordance with journalistic
standards.
"We are shocked with the decision on suspension," Druzijanic told Belgrade
media. "We even called the President's office, where we got no denial about the
authenticity of the clip. We cannot believe this is happening in a country which
is to become a European Union member in a few years time."
The clip has stirred political controversy, apart from the controversy over the
right to free expression.
President Mesic, who took office in 2000, is better known now for his
anti-fascist position. Mesic (74), comes from a communist family.
Mesic told Croatian media he did not remember the event. "Even with the best of
efforts, I cannot remember the speech," he said in his address to the nation
Sunday. "However, I do not exclude the possibility of saying something like that
at the time, taken over by prevailing emotions. If I did say such things, it was
my tactical concession, a wrong and incorrect gesture."
Mesic also said he did not ask anyone to intervene on his behalf at the
television station.
Human rights groups were not satisfied with the explanation. "A lot of
politicians took to Ustashi ideology in the early 1990s, hoping they could
obtain some profit for the cause of independence of Croatia," head of the
Helsinki Human Rights Committee (HHO) Zarko Puhovski told IPS on phone from
Zagreb. "If someone takes to such things now, he should submit a resignation."
Croatian journalist Denis Latin, who had to leave HRT last year after he
introduced controversial issues from the recent and distant past in his show,
told Croatian media: "Druzijanic and Rotim are going through exactly the same
thing I went through when I did my programme." (END/2006)
Copyright 2006 IPS
Posted for Fair Use only.
Transcript of Mesic's Remarks
Stjepan Mesić: "U Drugom svjetskom ratu, vidite, Hrvati su dva puta pobijedili i
mi nemamo razloga se nikom ispričavati. Ovo što skroz traže od Hrvata - ajde
idite kleknuti u Jasenovac, kleknite ovdje... Mi nemamo pred kim šta klečati! Mi
smo dva puta pobijedili, a svi drugi samo jednom. Mi smo pobijedili 10. travnja
kad su nam Sile osovine priznale Hrvatsku državu i pobijedili smo jer smo se
našli poslije rata, opet s pobjednicima, za pobjedničkim stolom".