The Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND) and the Journalists’ Union (SNH) on Friday strongly opposed the decision by the director-general of the public broadcaster HRT to close 11 of its local bureaux as part of the restructuring process.
The downsizing is to be carried out gradually from May 1 to August 1, as a result of which 51 employees, many of them journalists, will be laid off. The two journalists’ organisations said that the decision was damaging to the HRT as the national news service, citing the importance of local news programmes.
“The intention to close small bureaux and replace them with one person who would at the same time operate as a journalist, a camera operator and an editor would certainly affect the quality and quantity of reporting from the areas which have so far been covered by the bureaux,” the HND and SNH said in a statement.
The SNH branch at the HRT also criticised the director-general’s decision.