On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, observed on 3 May, Croatia's culture ministry underscored the importance of freedom of media as a pillar of each democratic society which is supposed to provide conditions for unobstructed and safe work of journalists.

This year, World Press Freedom Day, is marked in specific circumstances in which we evaluate in a particular way the role of media in the society, the ministry said in a press release on Sunday.

Accurate, true and timely reporting in accordance with the media freedoms in times of crisis represents a pillar for each individual and for the whole society, the ministry said.

Without the role of independent and free media in checking the information and without trust which the general public has in the media system, one cannot imagine the prevention of dissemination of fake news and disinformation in the world full of easy to access information, the source of which is unknown, said the ministry. Unfortunately, media outlets are hard hit by the consequences of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore the ministry will undertake additional measures to provide support to reporters, and publishers.

The ministry recalls on its web site that on 17 March, Croatia’s government adopted a series of measures to assist the cultural sector in order to minimise the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are aware that the crisis has affected all levels of society – economic as cultural, public as private, so by various measures we try to cover all segments of the cultural sector, emphasizing above all the spirit of solidarity and community as the foundation of a just and democratic society,” Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek was quoted as saying.

“The measures are intended to cover all artists and cultural workers who, in these moments of crisis which full reach is difficult to predict, lose their ability to act, and whose social and economic status is fundamentally threatened. We want to ease the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but also the recent earthquake that has additionally threatened the cultural and artistic field, one of the most vulnerable segments of the society,” said the minister.