Newspaper publishers at the Croatian Employers Association (HUP) on Monday expressed concern about a recent streak of cases in which courts ruled against a number of media outlets, describing the rulings as legally unfounded and calling for legislative changes that would define clear rules for the publishing industry.

The amount of rulings against media outlets for causing “mental anguish”, as well as the lack of uniform legal standards on which those verdicts are based, pose a serious threat to freedom of expression and media freedoms, the publishers said, adding that generating such legal insecurity jeopardises their stable operation and restricts their entrepreneurial freedom.

A few days ago, a Croatian satirical portal was fined over a satirical article, with the judge deciding that factually incorrect assertions cannot be considered satire.

A broader application of such a standard could potentially make room for lawsuits over any satirical text in the future, newspaper publishers warned.

They also mentioned a case where a media outlet was sued for damages for “mental anguish” over statements made in an authorised interview in which the plaintiff was not mentioned at all. In yet another instance, a web portal was fined for reporting on a public protest and carrying statements made at the rally.

Newspaper publishers also warned of excessive fines, as well as claims for damages being filed against different media outlets over the same issue.

Pointing to the profile of plaintiffs, newspaper publishers said that even though western legal standards have over decades raised the threshold of acceptable public criticism of state officials, in Croatia the number of cases where plaintiffs are senior members of political parties or the judiciary has been growing in recent years.

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.