Activity Details (ID# 4974)

Activity Synopsis

The general objective of the Round Table was to present to the participants the international instruments promoting media pluralism and media diversity at the Council of Europe and European Union levels. Through the presentations made by the Council of Europe consultants, the participants were informed about the different ways in which several member States have implemented these rules in their domestic legislation. The specific objective of the Round Table was to assess the way in which the Croatian legislator has tackled the questions of media concentration and media pluralism. 

The Round Table was very well organised. Several relevant Council of Europe documents (Report on media diversity, Committee of Ministers’ Recommendations, etc.) were made available to the participants, and the Croatian Ministry of Culture distributed a publication with all the newly adopted Laws in the media field. A conference Reader, including the written presentations, was prepared and distributed to the participants. An electronic version of the reader is also available at the IMO site www.imo.hr.
The presentations and the follow-up discussions proved that the issue is extremely topical and that further analysis would be needed in order to better address the question of media concentration in Croatia.
A press release was sent to all Croatian media before the event. The event was announced by the Croatian news agency HINA in its daily service. In addition to HINA, five other media sent journalists to cover the meeting (Vjesnik, Slobodna Dalmacija, Hrvatski radio, Večernji list, OTV). Media coverage of the event included one television interview, broadcast on the day of the conference by the Zagreb local television station OTV, in its “Servus Zagreb” local news program at 6pm. The interviews were given by Dr. Antun Vujić, Minister of Culture, and Dr. Zrinjka Peruško, Institute for International Relations. Hrvatski radio also reported on the round table in its regular news programme. Third Channel of the Hrvatski radio expressed interest in producing a whole programme using some of the conference presentations.
Press coverage included an article each in Vjesnik, Večernji list, and Slobodna Dalmacija, all published on 29 November 2003.

Although no specific questionnaire or evaluation form was distributed to the participants at the end of the meeting, the discussion which took place indicated that the presentations were welcomed and were found useful by the participants.
Some changes in the programme took place due to the absence of one consultant, but these changes did not have any major consequences to the implementation of the activity.
The target group was reached, although it was regrettable that no representatives from political parties were present. This absence was due to the current coalition discussions that took place at the same time.

 

Although no formal declaration was adopted by the participants, additional research on the impact of media concentration in Croatia will be needed. This research will probably have a direct impact on future amendments to the media legislation.
A Council of Europe expertise might be then needed to further advise the newly elected parliamentarians.
IMO will probably request the Council of Europe to fund the publication of the proceedings.
 

Minister of Culture, representatives from several ministries, media professionals, representatives of NGOs, representatives of the OSCE Mission in Zagreb, academics 

Mr Sigve GRAMSTAD, Director General, Norwegian Media Ownership Authority, Oslo, Norway
Prof. Peter A. BRUCK, Institute for Information, economy and new media, Salzburg, Austria
Prof. Sandra BAŠIĆ HRVATIN, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
 

Mr Mario OETHEIMER, Media Division, DG2