(Credit: CIME, screenshot)

The Center for International Media Ethics weighed in on Croatian media ethics in its December 2011 newsletter with an article by Croatian journalist Danko Radaljac.

According to CIME, Croatian journalists can be regulated in two ways. First, Croatia has a journalists’ organization, Hrvatsko novinarsko društvo (better known as HND), and a code of ethics. But, CIME noted not only do journalists not have to join the HND, the code isn’t really enforceable as ” the most severe possible punishment for breaking the Code of Ethics is being dismissed from the HND.”

Second, Croatia’s legal system has stipulations that can affect journalists: Article 199 criminalizes public “insults” and Article 201 criminalizes “the harassment of children with the public word.”