Ivo Pukanic

When Mick Deane was killed in Egypt on Wednesday, he became the 1,000th journalist documented by CPJ as having died in direct relation to his work. The photos above, a sampling of those who have died over the past 21 years, serve as a powerful reminder of the cost of critical, independent journalism.

Top Developments • Government makes progress on reforms, but press freedom lags. • Ruling HDZ gains influence with some media outlets.Key Statistic 8: People indicted in a car bombing that killed two media executives. Croatia’s efforts to join the European Union by 2011 did not yield major improvements in press freedom. While the EU said…

We issued the following statement after Croatian and Serbian prosecutors announced that they have charged eight men in an October 2008 car bombing that killed Ivo Pukanic, owner and editorial director of the Zagreb-based political weekly Nacional, and Niko Franjic, the paper’s marketing director…

New York, June 3, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the arrests of three additional suspects in the October 2008 murders of Ivo Pukanic, owner and editorial director of the Zagreb-based political weekly Nacional, and Niko Franjic, the publication’s marketing director. Three other suspects had been arrested in November 2008. 

BULGARIA | CROATIA | FRANCE | KOSOVO | ROMANIA | SLOVAKIA | TAJIKISTAN | UNITED KINGDOM | UKRAINE BULGARIA • Two unidentified gunmen killed Georgi Stoev, a popular writer and author of a series of books on the origins and rise of Bulgaria’s criminal underworld. Stoev, 35, was walking on a busy street near the…

New York, November 3, 2008–Croatian police have charged five men in the October 23 murder of two employees of the Zagreb-based political weekly Nacional, according to international news reports.

The deaths of two Croatian journalists, killed when a bomb exploded beneath their car Thursday in Zagreb, is getting extensive coverage across the region today. 

New York, October 23, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the deaths of Ivo Pukanic, owner and editorial director, and Niko Franjic, marketing director, of the Zagreb-based political weekly Nacional.

After learning today that Ivo Pukanic, owner and editorial director, and Niko Franjic, marketing director, of the Zagreb-based political weekly Nacional, were killed when a bomb exploded under Pukanic’s car parked outside the paper’s building, we issued the following statement…

Gradual political stabilization in the western Balkans and the implementation of political reforms required for Croatia to join the European Union by 2007 have led to greater press freedom and media pluralism in the country. However, rivalries in the ruling reformist coalition, a powerful far-right opposition, politicized media owners, and a judiciary in need of…