19. 01. 2015

Tabloid attributes pornographic material to Croat president

19.1.2015 (Beta, B92) - BELGRADE -- The Serbian Ministry of Culture and Information has condemned a tabloid for publishing pornographic images, and claiming they showed Croatia's new president.

The ministry on Monday announced they would press minor charges against the Informer newspaper's "responsible person."

The tabloid on Saturday published the pornographic content on its front page, asserting the images showed Croatia's president-elect, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

The paper's editor in chief, Dragan Vucicevic, subsequently said "an error" had been made and apologized.

The ministry also said today it will turn to the Higher Public Prosecution in order to consider if the publishing of the article also represented a criminal act.

A statement said that the content "violated a series of legal regulations contained in the New Law on Public Information and Media that is harmonized with the European framework," and also "violated in the most crude manner the code of conduct of journalists."

The ministry called on professional associations and the self-regulatory body to react to similar cases when unpermitted media content is published in a timely manner, and continue to increase the quality and strengthen professionalism in the media.

"The fact that Informer admitted to making a mistake should represent a turning point, after which the entire public scene will finally see an end to the publishing of such media content," the statement concluded.