Motif: on typewriter written name of the stamp issue and the obligatory stamp data In the beginning there was newspaper. First newspaper printed in Croatian language was Kraljski Dalmatin, published from 1806 to 1810 in Italian and Croatian language by French authorities in Zadar, after the Napoleon conquest. The newspaper is important not only as the first in Croatian language but also because of the first Croatian journalist and editor – Don Domenik Budrović, who edited it from 1809 to 1810. In Croatia newspapers, journalists and journalism in the real sense of the word exist only from the time of Gaj’s Novine Horvatzke, i.e. from 1835. The Emperor and King Franz II signed a year earlier, a day after Gaj’s twenty-fifth birthday, his consent for issuing the newspaper with the important remark that the newspaper is subject to censorship. Changed political circumstances in the middle of the 19th century influenced the appearance of an increased number of newspapers and journalists in Europe and also in Croatia so that it became clear that a new profession, which faced difficulties, was emerging. The first to write about it was Milan Grlović in 1877 in the text “Croatian Journalists’ Association“, and then, a decade later, in the text “Croatian Writers’ and Journalists’ Association“. The consequence of these trends was founding of a specific journalists’ association, already in 1900, as the section of the “Croatian Writers’ Association“. Again, a decade later, upon several unsuccessful attempts to achieve the government’s approval of their Regulations, which was a condition for founding an association, on 11 November 1910 a writing was received confirming the Regulations of the “Croatian Journalists’ Association". Grlović, who dedicated more than 30 years of his life to the goal of founding the journalists’ association, gathered on 18 December 1910 in the premises of Matica hrvatska (Matrix Croatica)30 journalists and the only at that time existing woman-journalist – Marija Jurić Zagorka. Grlović was elected first chairman of the Association. At the constitutive assembly Grlović said:”All our institutions came into being thanks to the press, its sacrifices and its care - and therefore the press has the right to ask from them in return to neglect it, to set it free. In order to be able to fulfil its illustrious mission among the people the press has to be independent, honest, respectful, but also united, so that it can be stable and influential.” His words echo already for a century. Immediately also a journalists’ Court of Honour was founded with the main concern in journalist ethics. In the beginning, it seems, it had not much to do, while today when the public is more sensitive to the journalist ethics, its successor – the Council of Honour of the Croatian Journalists’ Association, receives yearly about eighty claims. In the beginning he Croatian Journalists’ Association counted 61 members and today, after 100 years there are more than 3.000 members. The issues that were main concern of the Association at that time are also contained in the goals the Association is striving to achieve today: realisation of the interests of the profession, keeping reputation and dignity of the profession, ethics and freedom of public expression, promotion of the rights of the public to be informed on all events in the society, material and social protection of journalists and their protection from the autocracy of publishers. Already from its very founding, the professionally organised Association felt the need for cooperation with similar associations in other countries so that today it is a known member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ). Every year the Croatian Journalists’ Association participates in the activities of its roof organisation. These activities draw attention to the dramatic crisis the journalism is facing today - suffering from exaggerated commercialisation, political pressures, drop in professional standards, bad working conditions and violence over journalists occurring in all parts of the world. The aim of such activities is to promote quality journalism as public domain. Therefore it is necessary to keep repeating that by standing up for their rights the journalists also stand up in defence of civil freedoms and fundamental human rights Apart from the 100th birthday Croatian Journalists’ Association celebrates another important anniversary – 80 years of the building of the Journalist House situated in the triangle of the Roosevelt Square and Perkovčeva and Vukotinovićeva streets. The project was made by the architect Bruno Bauer and the House was built in 1930. Its purpose was to contribute to the financial independence of the Association, but for numerous reasons and a lot of complications from 1937 through the Second World War period and the nationalisation, it was only in 1990 that the building came again into possession of the Association. Thus, it is only today that the Journalist House serves its initial purpose – contributes to the independence of the professional journalist association. Vladimir Lulić.
