World Press Freedom Day

World Press Freedom Day is celebrated each year on May 3rd, ever since 1993, when it was declared by the United Nations General Assembly. On that Day media professionals are brought together in order to assess the state of media freedom and discuss options for resolving the many challenges, and the aim of celebration is to raise awareness about the importance of media freedom and its fundamental principles.

According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics in the Republic of Croatia in 2008, there were 146 radio stations in operation, so there were 2 stations more than in 2007. There were 4 radio stations, Hrvatski radio, Hrvatski katolički radio, Radio Croatia and Otvoreni radio, that broadcasted throughout the whole territory of the Republic of Croatia, while others were either regional or local ones. As compared to 2007, the total broadcast of own programme expressed in hours increased by 7.1%, out of which the broadcast of state-owned radio stations did not change. Regional stations decreased broadcasting by 6.5% and the local ones increased their broadcasting by 9.7%.

The average share of news and information programme in own programmes of all radio stations was 15.1%, out of which the programme in the state-owned radio stations reached 14.4%, in regional ones 20.1% and in local ones 14.5%. The share of advertising spots in all radio stations was 7.7% on the average, out of which this kind of programme in the state-owned radio stations reached 4.4%, in the regional ones 8.4% and in the local ones 7.8%. As compared to 2007, the total number of persons in employment increased by 1.9%, while the share of those directly engaged in the production of radio programmes (70%) in all radio stations remained the same. The share of women in the total number of persons in employment was 45.4%, which means that it did not change as compared to the year 2007.

In 2008, data on 21 TV broadcasters were presented. By status, there was one public and 20 independent TV broadcasters. As compared to 2007, the total number of in-house broadcasted hours of programme (without satellite transmissions) increased by 18.7%, while the satellite transmission and the share of TV repeats in the total programme (without satellite transmissions) did not change.

The share of information and documentary programmes of all TV broadcasters was 17.6%, out of which TV broadcasters that cover the whole territory of the Republic of Croatia participated with 12.6%, regional TV broadcasters with 20.0% and local ones with 19.0%. The share of commercial programme of all TV broadcasters was 27.2%, out of which the state TV broadcasters participated with 12.6%, the regional ones with 32.8% and the local ones with 31.5%. As compared to 2007, the total number of persons in employment increased by 6.9%, out of which 77.0% were persons in employment directly engaged in the production of TV programmes. The share of women in the total number of persons in employment was 38.7%, which shows that the percentage of women did not change, as compared to 2007.

In 2008, there were 2 525 magazines and 334 newspapers issued, which was almost the same as in 2007. Most magazines and newspapers were issued in Croatian (2 597 issues, or 90.8%) and the rest of them in foreign languages (262 issues, or 9.2%). There were 163 magazines and newspapers issued in English, 17 in German and 21 in Italian.