The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) on Wednesday appealed to President Zoran Milanovic "to stop calling out media and reporters, which he has been doing intensively lately via Facebook posts."

Criticising public statements by MP Rada Boric, given in an interview with Jutarnji List daily, and political analyst Zarko Puhovski, who spoke for the RTL broadcaster, President Milanovic also criticised the two media outlets and in his latest post attacked Index news website reporter Neven Barkovic, the HND recalled.

The umbrella journalists’ association said that it would not engage in the polemic between the President of the Republic and other political stakeholders as he had the right to comment and enter into debates with all actors on the political and public scene, but it defended the democratic principle under which journalists and editors have the right to choose topics and interlocutors on their own.

“The head of state, just as other representatives of the government, should not determine the editorial policy of journalists and media outlets,” the HND said, noting that the president should encourage dialogue and public debates based on arguments.

“With his posts the President is doing exactly what he has accused others of doing, shifting the focus from important issues in one of the biggest corruption affairs in the country to his comments,” the HND said.