January 23, 2024

23.01.2024 – Case of Dora Kršul and Telegram.hr

A governmental official in Croatia has allegedly accused journalist Dora Kršul and the media outlet Telegram.hr (https://www.telegram.hr/) for reporting “malicious news.”

Kršul published an investigation about alleged misuse funds at one faculty in Croatia. She reported about allocation of public funds for earthquake reconstruction. On the morning of 22 March 2020, a strong earthquake hit the Croatian capital Zagreb.

The articles, published on Telegram.hr and picked up by other media outlets, resulted in 29 arrests in November 2023. The accusations of spreading false information came in November 2023 and have been cited as an alarming tactic to discredit journalists.

This incident is not the first time that state representatives verbally attacked journalist Dora Kršul.

Dora Kršul is a Croatian investigative journalist born in Zagreb in 1990 and she received the Marija Jurić Zagorka annual award by Croatian Journalist Association HND in 2017 for internet and investigative journalism. Her investigative journalism in 2023 earned her another HND award for investigative reporting.

South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is displeased with the official reactions against journalist Dora Kršul and the media outlet Telegram.hr. SEEMO expresses deep concern over the use of discrediting language, labeling the journalist’s work as “malicious news.”

South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is a regional non-governmental, non profit network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in Southeast, South, East and Central Europe. SEEMO members are in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova (with the territory of Transdnestria), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye / Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Austria, Italy, Vatican and San Marino have a special status in SEEMO. SEEMO has over 3000 individual members, and additional media as corporate members.

 

#fyp #mediafreedom #seemo #freespeech #southeasteuropemediaorganisation #ngo #journalist #journalistunderattack #croatia #telegram.hr #dorakrsul #SEEMO #pressfreedom #mediafreedom #freemedia @TelegramHR @dorakrsul