The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) warned the public on Friday about the dangerous attack by the leader of the Domovinski pokret party, Ivan Penava, on the weekly newspaper of the Serbian minority Novosti, whose closure the party favours, and its announcements, which the HND sees as a crackdown on "unsuitable" journalists and media.

“Remember that when you take statements from the gentlemen in the Domovinski pokret that they consider you enemies of the state. They do not see you as journalists who do their work in the interest of the public, but as enemies of Croatia who should be Croatianised. They are the ones who have the ‘Office of Croatianism'”, Hrvoje Zovko, the president of the HND, told reporters. He added that the politicians in the Domovinski pokret “want to measure how much you are Croatian and suitable” and compared this to the mentality of the Khmer Rouge.

“The Khmer Rouge in the Domovinski pokret want to intimidate us. They have openly threatened Novosti and the public media Croatian Radiotelevision and the Croatian news agency HINA. This is a classic example of intimidation and a threat to all other media who do not know when they are being targeted,” Zovko said, adding that he was surprised by the lack of reaction from society.

“I did not notice anyone raising their voice. Where is the Croatian intellectual elite that is now silent?” Zovko said, wondering about the lack of reaction to the open threats against the journalistic profession on the part of constitutional lawyers, the cultural organisation Matica Hrvatska and political analysts.

“We understand why the silence, but the silence of the incumbent Minister of Culture and Media and the entire HDZ party is unacceptable and shows once again what the HDZ thinks of us,” said Zovko.

Simicevic: Unprecedented attack on autonomy and rights of ethnic minorities

Reporter for the weekly Novosti, Hrvoje Simicevic, who chairs the HND’s Council of Honour, said that it is indisputable that every party has the right to define its platform in line with its worldview and to promise voters its vision of Croatia once it comes to power.

“However, it is undeniable that the Domovinski pokret has launched an unprecedented campaign against the autonomy and rights of ethnic minorities in Croatia by announcing that it will deny funding to a certain minority newspaper. Moreover, this is a rare attack on media freedom, not only on the weekly Novosti, but on the entire media sector in the country,” Simicevic said.

Commenting on Domovinski pokret’s plans for the rest of the media scene in Croatia, Simicevic said: “Novosti is just the beginning. After painstakingly working through the awkward and poorly written sentences of the party’s election programme, one can come to the conclusion that Domovinski pokret is planning a campaign against the entire media sector and journalistic freedoms in Croatia,” Simicevic said.