Croatia, media under attack

Media campaigns and even kidnapping threats to marginalise and silence an inconvenient media outlet: this is what is happening in Croatia to the maritime affairs website "morski.hr", an episode that reopens concerns about freedom of the press in the country

10/09/2024, Giovanni Vale - Zagreb

Croazia-media-sotto-attacco

morski.hr. - screenshot

A serious attack โ€“ which betrays a worrying modus operandi โ€“ has involved the Croatian website specialised in maritime affairs morski.hr  in recent days.

According to a recording published on September 1 by the portal itself, the Croatian Association of Private Shipowners (HUPB), unnerved by some critical articles that appeared on the site, allegedly hired a public relations firm with the aim of โ€œmarginalisingโ€ the work of journalists, while some of the HUPB members even proposed kidnapping the editor-in-chief of morski.hr, Jurica Gaลกpar.

The reaction of press freedom organisations was immediate: the Croatian Association of Journalists (HND ) denounced โ€œserious threatsโ€ and asked the police to investigate and arrest those responsible, while the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) spoke of โ€œunacceptable threatsโ€ that deserve to be treated seriously.

100,000 Euros to marginalise an information portal

The recording published on Sunday, September 1 by morski.hr, is beyond belief. Sitting around a table are several representatives of the Croatian Association of Private Shipowners (HUPB), a legal expert on maritime issues and the director of the PR agency IMC Ankica Mamiฤ‡, a well-known figure in Croatia, as she is often invited as a political analyst by Croatian television.

In the audio, which lasts about half an hour, those present discuss what strategy to adopt to counter the negative writings on morski.hr against HUPB. At one point, the marketing expert suggests using her alleged acquaintance with the Minister of Tourism and Deputy Prime Minister Branko Baฤiฤ‡ to create a positive image of shipping and โ€œreduce Morski to what it is, a marginal portalโ€, Mamiฤ‡ concludes.

According to the portal, HUPB paid Mamiฤ‡โ€™s IMC agency 100,000 Euros for its services. โ€œEspecially interestingโ€, comments  the Croatian Journalists Association (HND), โ€œis the part where the PR expert tells, as she puts it, the positive stories of her clients, saying among other things: โ€˜We need to involve the Minister of Tourism in this story, we will definitely involve him, and we will start writing positive stories, about what you are doing well, and thus we will reduce Morski to what it is, a marginal portalโ€™.

For the HND, such agreements are ludicrous, and the part where [Ankica Mamiฤ‡, ed.] basically says that a portal should be marginalised is especially unacceptable.

The ministers mentioned by the marketing expert have denied any involvement, but the HND warns that โ€œPR agreements with ministers and other government representatives to influence the media are a long-standing and highly controversial practiceโ€.

The Croatian Journalists Association recalls that it has long warned against the widespread practice whereby โ€œvarious PR agencies create content through the media and in cooperation with various ministries and public authoritiesโ€, content โ€œthat is not in the public interest and as such is an enemy of journalismโ€.

In Croatia, PR agencies โ€œhave gone beyond their scope of competenceโ€, โ€œthey are no longer just spokespeople for their clients, but actively participate in their corporate policies, and if on their way to such policies they encounter media that write differently, then, as in this case, they try to marginalise themโ€.

โ€œSomeone put him in the trunkโ€

However, the agreement that emerges from the recording published by morski.hr is not the most serious aspect of the affair. In a WhatsApp group called โ€œAdriatic Shipownersโ€ โ€“ a group within HUPB โ€“ one person proposed kidnapping the portalโ€™s editor-in-chief, Jurica Gaลกpar.

โ€œHere, Cesarica (name of the boat), I am ready to pay โ€“ and I ask everyone to give โ€“ 100 Euros, so that someone puts that idiot Morski.hr in the trunk of his carโ€. Other messages on the same topic followed.

According to Gaลกpar himself, who had access to the conversation, one of the groupโ€™s participants responded that the journalist โ€œshould be taken by ferry to Braฤ and left naked on Vidova Gora [the highest peak on the island, ed.]โ€. Ten members of the group agreed.

Gaลกpar told  the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) that, although he had received threats from shipping companies in the past for his critical articles, this was the first time he had been threatened with kidnapping.

The president of the Croatian Association of Private Shipowners, Arsen Ercegoviฤ‡, condemned these messages, but the episode nevertheless shows the climate of hatred that Croatian journalists, especially those who cover local economic interests, often have to deal with.

As Reporters Sans Frontiรจres  (RSF) notes, โ€œalthough there have been no murders of journalists [in Croatia, ed.] since 2008, physical attacks and intimidation against journalists occur every yearโ€.

โ€œWorking as a journalist in Croatia can be dangerousโ€, RSF continues. โ€œReporters who investigate corruption, organised crime or war crimes, especially at the local level, are often victims of harassment campaigns. Physical attacks, threats and cyber-violence are a major problem, with little response from the authoritiesโ€.

Unfortunately, after the case was published, Jurica Gaลกpar received new threats , this time death threats.

On September 9, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium began a mission on press freedom in Croatia. The delegation will meet online with government representatives, journalists and journalist associations, civil society and media experts to discuss the most pressing challenges to media freedom and pluralism in the country.

 

 

This article was produced by OBC Transeuropa within the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) project, a Europe-wide mechanism that tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries.

Consorzio MFRR

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