Croatian Media 'Confusing Public' on Gay Marriage

Croatia's socially conservative pressure group, “In the Name of the Family”, has complained that media outlets in the country are delibarately confusing ordinary people by describing recently legalised civil partnershps as “gay marriages”.

The NGO campained successfully for a referendum on outlawing gay marriage by means of a constitutional amendment.

Now, however, it claims that the media are effectively pretending that gay marriages are allowed by law.

The group has also filed a complaint to Croatia’s Council for Electronic Media, urging it to warn the media against posting "sensationalistic articles that contain unverified and inaccurate information" on the same subject.

These mislead people and "harm the constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia", causing "significant dissatisfaction and distrust in the entire legal system", it says.

The NGO further maintains that the media have given "excessive importance" to the passage of a Law on Civil Partnership, which has also created "discontent among citizens".

Media unions have responded by calling the complaint an attempt to censor how the media wrote about society.

The head of the Journalists’ Association, Zdenko Duka, dismissed the complaint as "comic", adding that “In the name of the Family” seemed unfamiliar with the role of the media.

He also called the complaint that citizens will confuse marriages and civil partnerships an overstatement.

“One association cannot claim the privilege of managing how the media should write," he said. "It's not the job of associations, or of state authorities, or of the Electronic Media Council,” he added.

Croatia's Law on Life Partnership, which regulates the rights of same sex unions...