The conditions in which Croatian journalists work are increasingly deteriorating, which directly threatens and affects media freedoms and the public's right to access quality reporting, the Croatian Journalists' Union (SNH) said on Thursday in a statement marking World Press Freedom Day celebrated on May 3.

Croatian journalism as a whole is struggling, SNH said, especially in private-owned media where journalists with open-ended contracts are increasingly pressured by owners who continue to reduce their rights even when their companies are turning a profit.

Freelance journalists are in an even worse position, as are the increasing numbers of students working in journalism. SNH said labour inspectors should not continue looking the other way when faced with widespread misuse of student contracts that media employers utilise to get cheap media workers, SNH said.

The Croatian media is increasingly staffed by underpaid journalists who have been scared and don’t dare to tackle the most pressing problems of Croatia’s society, such as corruption, nepotism, cronyism in politics, or the disfunctional judiciary.