Today, the European Commission responded to CJA’s letter expressing concern about the potential consequences of introducing a new criminal offense related to journalists’ work. As stated in the response, they have closely followed developments, especially as part of preparations for the Commission’s Annual Rule of Law Report.

The European Commission’s response also states that they are aware of the open letter from CJA and the editors of 19 Croatian media outlets and will continue to closely monitor relevant developments in Croatia regarding the practical consequences of recent amendments to the Criminal Code.

It is worth noting that the Croatian Journalists’ Association believes that the amendments to the Criminal Code regarding unauthorized disclosure of information from investigations, colloquially referred to as “Lex AP,” are dangerous for media freedom and the public’s right to be informed. CJA finds Article 307.a of the Criminal Code, “Unauthorized Disclosure of Content from Investigative or Evidentiary Actions,” unacceptable and has requested its withdrawal.

The Science Journalists section of the Croatian Journalists’ Association has directed ten questions about the science system and science policy to all political parties in Croatia. All answers received before the start of the pre-election silence will be published on the Croatian Journalists’ Association website in the order they arrive.

“We hope that our political parties will take advantage of this opportunity to present their views on the issues in the science system and inform the wider public about the solutions they plan to offer after winning the elections,” stated the Science Journalists section of the Croatian Journalists’ Association. The questions are as follows:

1) When you come into power, whom would your party nominate for the Minister of Science and Education? Additionally, regardless of their party affiliation or lack thereof, who would you like to see at the helm of that ministry?

2) Do you know what percentage of Croatia’s GDP is allocated to science and research in Croatia and where we stand in the EU in this regard? Do you plan to increase that percentage after winning the elections?

3) How do you assess the importance of basic sciences compared to applied sciences, and how will you establish the funding ratio between these two categories when you become part of the executive branch?

4) What are the two pressing issues in the Croatian science system that you see, and what will your party do as part of the ruling coalition after the elections to address them?

5) What measures will you take as part of the government to stop the brain drain of young and highly educated professionals abroad, with an emphasis on individuals who are already part of the science and higher education system?

6) Why have only a few projects in our country received support from the prestigious ERC fund, reserved only for the most promising scientific projects in the EU, while some scientific institutions in our immediate neighborhood have multiples more?

7) Do you agree that one of the major social problems in our country and the world is the decline in public trust in science and the rise of pseudoscience? If yes, how will your party in the Government direct state policy towards solving this major problem?

8) What measures will you take to ensure the promotion of the transfer of new technologies from the science system to the economy? Do you think that separating the science sector from the Ministry of Science and Education and forming an independent Ministry of Science and Technology could help in this regard?

9) How will you, within the ruling coalition, utilize the potential expertise, competencies, and experiences possessed by employees in the science and higher education system in improving legislation, introducing new regulations, and generally making correct decisions based on facts and science?

10) Do you advocate for an increase in the share of the Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) program dedicated to science, considering that such programs are diminishing year by year, and will you introduce such an obligation into the Law on HRT?

The Press Council calls on all journalists and editors to immediately stop the scandalous, sensationalist, disturbing and shameful reporting on the death of a two-year-old girl from Bor and to show a minimum of respect for the victim, as well as consideration and compassion for her family.

By reporting on (accurate or fabricated) details of the crime, certain media today have violated all the ethical standards of journalism, but also the basic norms of decency and humanity.

At the last session, the Complaints Commission of the Press Council expressed its deep concern over the reporting, which a week ago was inadmissibly sensationalistic and undignified, but today reached a new, incomprehensible, low point.

The Press Council also calls on the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications to immediately react and sanction the media which, we believe, violated the legal norms.

Belgrade, 4.4.2024

Management Board of the Press Council

The Management Board of the Press Council includes representatives of the Media Association, Local Press, the Journalists’ Association of Serbia and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia.

Lajmi.net journalists, Fjolla Hyseni and Lindita Berisha were physically attacked today by a couple on Rruga C in Prishtina.

In the disturbing footage published by the media a woman and a man are seen attacking journalists and attempting to prevent them from filming. According to this media, the incident started when the taxi carrying the journalists blocked their path, leading to a physical confrontation first with the taxi driver.

For the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, the physical attack on journalists Hyseni and Berisha is extremely disturbing, unacceptable, and a serious threat to the safety of journalists.

The journalists and the media have already reported the case to the Kosovo Police, and AJK invites the Police and the Prosecutor’s Office to take all the necessary actions to urgently address the physical attack that has happened.

Journalism students and journalists of the Academy, during the second module, were lectured about the impact of disinformation on dealing with the past.

This module of the Academy was lectured by Getoarbë Mulliqi, Executive Director of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, who spoke to the participants about the complex relationship between disinformation and social efforts to address and reconcile historical injustices and conflicts. They were able to see how false narratives and disinformation can misrepresent public understanding of historical events, hinder reconciliation processes and perpetuate divisions. Through discussions and practical work, journalists had the opportunity to see strategies for identifying and combating disinformation, with a focus on fostering an informed public discourse that supports truth-telling and accountability.

Also, at the end of the module, the documentary ‘Think Like a Fact Checker,’ with the author Getoarbë Mulliqi, produced by the Association of Journalists of Kosovo and supported by the U.S. Embassy in Pristina, Kosovo, was shown

The documentary was produced in Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Saint Petersburg in the United States of America.

The Academy on Dealing with the Past (BmK) and Conflict Sensitive Reporting will continue with two more modules in the following months.

Mostar, 27.3.2024. Media professionals in Bosnia and Herzegovina would feel safer if there was a Registry of cyber bullies, but also if the legal regulations were changed and adapted to the current problems that journalists face in the online space. Also, it is very important that the media write more about cyber violence. These are some of the conclusions of the educational training held on Wednesday in Mostar organized by BH journalists (BHJA) and FMHL (Free Media Help Line) with the participation of journalists and editors from Mostar, Čapljina and Nevesinje.

The training was organized with the aim of training journalists and media in the local community about the system of legal and institutional support and how to use effective protection through the use of legal representation in cases of threats, attacks, gender-based violence and misogyny in the online sphere, as well as other forms of cybercrime such as hacker attacks, violation of copyright and other rights, theft of identity and media content, etc.

Denija Hidić, a member of the Cure Foundation Team, noted that attacks on female journalists are becoming more frequent in the online/offline sphere of activity, and that these attacks on female professionals, media workers also have a note of gender-based violence and discrimination.”Such forms of hate speech, gender-based violence and misogyny should be condemned in the public space, and we all have a duty to protect female journalists and provide them with freedom in reporting. It is necessary to process the attackers according to the priority process and to protect female journalists. The Law on Gender Equality provides key tools for female journalists to refer to the provisions of the law that protect women’s rights and discrimination against women based on gender,” said Hidić.

Internet abuse, doxxing, DDoS attacks and phishing and malware attacks are cases of security threats and risks that the Federal Police Administration (FUP) in Sarajevo has recorded in its work, said Saša Petrović, inspector of FUP Sarajevo at a training session in Mostar. He emphasized that the reports of journalists do not differ from the reports of ordinary citizens and that the law does not currently recognize journalists differently. He also pointed out that without the initiative of the Prosecutor’s Office, the police cannot react.

“The prosecution and the prosecutor is a key institution that manages the investigation, supervises the investigation and finally writes the indictments and sends the indictments to the court. The police is only an executive body. We have our basic powers that we must respect. I think that all issues of jeopardizing the safety of journalists should be asked of the prosecutors. In Serbia and Croatia, the criminal code regulated ‘harassment on the Internet’ as a criminal offense, this is not yet the case in our country and we should advocate for it,” Petrović said.

Attacks on the privacy, security and freedom of expression of media workers represent a serious risk not only for them as individuals, but also for democratic processes and freedom of information in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

According to the records of the Journalist Helpline (FMHL), out of 87 cases registered in the database during 2023, there are 35 cases where threats/attacks were directed at female journalists. In the past year, the Helpline for Journalists and the Association/Association of BH Journalists have registered in the database 24 cases related to cyber attacks and threats, where the victims of threats were most often female journalists (in 8 cases), while 5 media houses were exposed to multi-day attacks. hacker attacks.

Also, we point out that last year 72 individuals from the journalistic community and 15 media used free legal aid within the framework of FMHL, including representation before the courts, and the protection of journalistic rights and freedoms before institutions at different levels of government.

The training was organized with the support of the US Government as part of the USAID program to help independent media in BiH #MEA, which is implemented by Internews in cooperation with the organization Fhi360 and local partners.