The Citizens’ Initiative “In the Name of the Family” hereby wishes to turn the attention of the Croatian public to the campaign conducted by Europapress Holding (EPH) via its publications, against the first citizens’ referendum scheduled for 1 December 2013. The extremely negative views of the referendum, accompanied by constructions and attempts at defamation of certain persons from the citizens’ initiative have lately been the common denominator of all EPH group publications.
These are the editions od EPH group:
a) Daily papers: Jutarnji list, Slobodna Dalmacija, Sportske novosti, Slavonski Dom, Šibenski list, Dubrovački vjesnik
b) Magazines: Globus, Gloria, Cosmopolitan, Playboy, Vita, Doktor u kući, OK!, Svijet, Teen, Astro Magazin, Teen385, mojFaks, studentski oglasnik, Bestseller
c) Internet publications: Jutarnji.hr, Slobodna-dalmacija.hr, Reci.hr, Autoklub.hr, Sutra.hr, Sibenski-list.hr, Dubrovacki-vjesnik.hr, Gorila.hr
The Citizens’ Initiative “In the Name of the Family” recognizes everybody’s right to express their value attitudes, even if they are extremely ideological, subjective and partial.
What the Citizens’ Initiative “In the Name of the Family” considers to be practice that does not even reach elementary civilizational, let alone professional standards, is the use of falsehoods, the production of sensationalist falsifications and manipulation of facts. That is precisely what is being served by EPH through its publications with regard to the forthcoming referendum. And all this with the aim of imposing a wrong impression on the citizens of the Republic of Croatia of the actual meaning of the question being decided on at the referendum. In all of this, EPH publications have been inaccessible to scientists, persons from public life, legal experts, and generally to persons who could offer the voters different, real information on the question that will be decided on.
In this way EPH has positioned itself, without any attempt to pretend otherwise, as the uncritical media lever of political elites whose views are being conveyed in EPH publications. To a certain extent, this can be understandable. The public is familiar with the fact that the EPH group owes the Republic of Croatia over HRK 60 million in taxes. It is very likely that this is way to compensate for the tax debt, or to ensure more flexible conditions for its repayment. It is a paradoxical situation, however, that it is precisely the citizens of the Republic of Croatia who will bear the brunt of the settlement of tax debts of those media that try to manipulate the public by distorting the reality.
All this will be a valid cause for citizens to reexamine with which degree of confidence they can rely on the information published by EPH publications in the future. The Citizens’ Initiative “In the Name of the Family” has also been contacted by many EPH employees who have clearly distanced themselves from the actions of the media company they work in.
The Citizens’ Initiative “In the Name of the Family” expresses hope that all of what is happening in relation to the referendum scheduled for 1 December 2013 will be a contribution to the efforts of the Republic of Croatia to make an additional step towards the democratization of the society, and above all, to the endeavor to allow Croatian citizens to freely articulate and express their views on issues related to life in society. One can only hope that the way in which the organization and preparation of the forthcoming referendum has been followed by EPH will in the near future merely be a reminder of the surmounted cases of the malicious, uncritical and petty politicking use of media space.