The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) warned on Tuesday of dangerous attacks by representatives of the Domovinski pokret (DP) party on the weekly Novosti, whose closure the party is openly calling for, as well as threats against its reporters, which have been reported to the police.

The president of HND, Hrvoje Zovko, said at a press conference that Novosti journalists had received a number of “disgusting threats” in recent days, some of which had also been sent to HND.

“DP is now the problem of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic”

“The HND thanks the police for their quick response, for being on the scene immediately after our report and for conducting the necessary interviews. I believe they will soon find the villains and cowards who threatened our colleagues,” said Zovko.

He said that the HND would blame “the apostles of the free market” if anything happened to reporters from Novosti or other media due to the “recent hysteria”, a reference to politician Stephen Bartulica as well as the entire leadership of the Domovinski pokret party.

“The attack on Novosti is neither the beginning nor the end of this affair. In its platform, the DP has announced an attack on Croatian Radio Television (HRT), the Croatian news agency Hina and the entire media landscape. We will oppose these plans and I call on all colleagues to show solidarity, because today Novosti is being attacked and tomorrow someone else will be attacked,” said Zovko.

He noted that the DP is now Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic‘s problem and added that he expects Plenković, the DP leadership, President Zoran Milanovic and all other political actors to unequivocally condemn the threats.

Radak: DP’s demands are an attack on free media, equality, ethnic minorities, SNV, Novosti

The editor-in-chief of Novosti, Andrea Radak, said that since its publication in 2009, Novosti “has “either been set on fire or demands have been made for its closure”

“We are now experiencing an intense campaign demanding the closure of the newspaper. The matter is all the more serious because the DP members are now part of the government majority and have the opportunity to insist on their demands as coalition partners,” Radak said.

She said the DP’s demands were an attack on free media, the constitutionally guaranteed right to equality, the rights of ethnic minorities and the Council for Ethnic Minorities, the policy of the Serbian National Council (SNV) and the editorial autonomy of Novosti.

“It’s about raising the local anti-Serbian sentiment and revisionism that the DP has been pushing in Vukovar for years to the national level,” Radak said, concluding that the party’s ultimate goal is the “orbanisation” of the entire media sector.

Radak’s deputy Tihomir Ponos rejected the claim that Novosti does not focus on local minority issues, but exclusively on major “global” issues.

“This is a very serious matter, to treat the media organisation of an ethnic minority and the minority itself as second-class citizens,” Ponoš said, rejecting the claim that Novosti should only report on “folklore, ethno-gastronomy and cultural heritage”

“This is not only an attempt at discrimination, but also an attempt at segregation and ghettoisation,” he said.