Croatian President’s Ban on Newspaper Attending Conference Slated

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic has been criticised for banning the daily Jutarnji list on Tuesday without any explanation from his press conference.

Hanza Media is the owner of several Croatian daily and weekly newspapers, including Jutarnji list, Slobodna Dalmacija and many others, which Milanovic has called "a cartel".

"It's not a media company, it's a cartel. The government finances them, they have no shame, they organize a gypsy wedding in Split, not a Roma one. It's not a media, so whoever writes there is not a journalist for me," Milanovic said in response to a question asking why Jutarnji list was not allowed to attend the press event.

Milanovic was referring to the celebrations in Split of the 80th anniversary of Slobodna Dalmacija, which took place last month and was attended by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

"I was shocked by the email message from the spokesperson of the President's Office, Nikola Jelic, who simply wrote to me that my accreditation to follow the press conference of the President was not approved," journalist Kresimir Zabec told Hina news agency.

"This is the first time that something like this has happened in my many years of journalistic work. No president, prime minister, minister, or state institution has ever done this, no matter how much they may not have agreed with my views," Zabec added.

He added that he was worried by the President's statement that he, Zabec, was not a real journalist. Who a journalist is, he said, should be judged by newsroom editors, not politicians.

"It is a terribly dangerous thesis for our work and for the whole of society that politicians say who is a journalist for them and who is not," he said.

"During his...