A meeting of the working groups on combating strategic lawsuits against public participation, SLAPP lawsuits, and on monitoring the implementation of the protocol for the protection of journalists and other media professionals was held at the Agency for Electronic Media. The meeting took place within the framework of the National Coordination Committee for the implementation of measures from the Action Plan for the Development of Culture and Media, as well as the Council of Europe and OSCE campaigns on journalists’ safety.
In addition to reviewing and discussing the activities carried out so far this year by the working groups, the main focus of the meeting was the preparation of an activity plan for the remainder of this year and for 2026.
In May this year, an educational brochure aimed at combating SLAPP lawsuits was published and presented to the public in both online and printed formats. It was distributed to journalists, editors, all members of the working groups, the Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND), the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists (SNH), DZNAP, the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, the Judicial Academy for judicial training purposes, the Ministry of Culture and Media, and the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts. The brochure was also distributed to the network of eleven anti-discrimination contact points operating across Croatia within the Ombudswoman’s Office, as well as to local journalists and editors at a seminar held at the European Commission Representation in Croatia, where Council of Europe and OSCE national coordinator for journalist safety Jasna Vaniček-Fila and 24sata editor-in-chief Ivan Buča addressed the issue of SLAPP lawsuits.
The distribution of the brochure was accompanied by presentations of the protocol for the protection of journalists’ safety directly within media newsrooms. Six one-day training sessions were held in the editorial offices of the largest media houses in Croatia, directly involving more than 180 journalists, editors and other media professionals, while the indirect reach was even greater. In addition, training was conducted for 30 police managers at the level of basic policing and protection services from all police administrations across Croatia.
Alongside these activities, the Judicial Academy organised three educational workshops on “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP)” in Zagreb, Osijek and Split, attended by 27 participants, judges and judicial advisers at municipal and county levels. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation established a working group to draft the Act on the Protection of Persons Engaged in Public Participation. The group includes experts from various fields, Supreme Court judges, municipal court judges, specialists from the Ministry of Culture and Media, professional journalists’ associations, law faculty professors, representatives of the Ombudswoman’s Office, the Croatian Bar Association, as well as experts from the Ministry of Justice and the Agency for Electronic Media. The drafting of the law is in its final phase, with the deadline for transposing Directive (EU) 2024/1069 set for 7 May 2026.
Regarding upcoming activities, further educational workshops on SLAPP lawsuits have been agreed with the Judicial Academy in Zagreb and its regional centres across Croatia. The topic “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP)” has been included in the Judicial Academy’s 2026 programme, with workshops scheduled for early next year. At the end of November this year, the brochure will also be presented at the seminar “New Developments in Civil Legislation, 2025” in Tuheljske Toplice. Further presentations of the agreement and protocol for journalists’ safety are planned in additional media newsrooms and within police administrations of the Ministry of the Interior.
At the invitation of Council member Jasna Vaniček-Fila, who is also the national coordinator for Council of Europe and OSCE journalist safety projects, participants at the meeting included Damjan Saridžić, sector adviser in the Directorate for Civil, Commercial and Administrative Law at the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation, Marina Mandić from the Office of the Director General of Police, Dragan Jurič from the General Crime Service of the Police Directorate, Mirela Matković, President of the National Association of Television Broadcasters, Vedrana Perišin, legal adviser to the Ombudswoman specialising in strategic litigation, Dušan Miljuš representing the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists in the anti-SLAPP working group, Andrea Hitner Jančić from the Ministry of Culture and Media, and Maja Sever, President of the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists and of the European Federation of Journalists.