WORLD PRESS TRENDS - World Association of Newspapers

CROATIA
Commentary - Zagreb University
The Media Council of the Croatian Helsinki Committee
described 2002 as a grim year for the Croatian media. Božo
Novak, the President of the Media Council said, “Today’s
situation in Croatian media is not so alarming as it was several
years before, but still it is very sensitive, complicated and very
dynamic.”
2002 will be remembered as a year in which the government
confirmed that various state secret services compiled hundreds
of dossiers on journalists during the 1990s. This sort of pressure
has long restricted media freedom, in a country which has
suffered from war and authoritarian control since the end of
the Soviet era. The new, democratically elected, government is
supporting media freedom, but in practice all forms of media
manipulation, pressure, and control exist, such as official
criticism, threats, violence and accusations of libel.
In 2002 Europapress Holding, Croatia’s largest publishing
company, launched Poslovni tjednik (‘Business Weekly’), a
newspaper that is well-designed and of high-quality, but has a
low circulation. The Finnish publishing company Sanoma
launched two women’s magazines – Story and Elle – while the
German publisher Burda launched a joint venture with the
Croatian publisher Nakladnik. Their first joint product is Lisa,
a women’s magazine, which has a much lower cover price than
most of its rivals.
New foreign investment in the media reactivated the debate on
ownership and media monopoly, which is not regulated by
media law. In the beginning of 2002 the government initiated
debate among journalists about the whole media legislation;
this was the first time that the government asked journalists for
their opinion before imposing a law upon them.
Newspapers are concentrating more and more on scandals,
sensations, crime stories, gossip and rumours. The Croatian
Journalists’ Association warns that journalists’ ethical standards
have deteriorated, and asks them to respect its Code of Ethics.
The Faculty of Political Sciences has launched a new course for
working journalists. In 2002 more than a hundred students
began studying the course, which will qualify them for a
diploma and fulfil certain legal obligations that are required
before they can become professional journalists. The course
will also raise the professional knowledge of Croatian journalists
in general.
The Croatian company General Grafic has become the local
representative of the international company Newspaperdirect,
which distributes more than 140 newspapers electronically to
its local representatives, which then print them and distribute
them to subscribers.
POPULATION
Population by age and sex
All individuals Male Female Households
000 % 000 % 000 % 000
Children 932 20 477 21 455 19 1,477
16-24 604 13 308 14 296 12
25-34 590 13 297 13 293 12
35-44 651 14 325 15 326 14
45-54 633 14 317 14 317 13
55-64 492 11 229 10 262 11
65+ 713 15 274 12 439 18
Total 4,615 100 2,227 100 2,388 100
Source: Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia
Newspaper reach (%)
Daily Weekly
All adults 27 49
Population by social class and sex
All adults Male Female
000 % 000 % 000 %
A+B 484 15 260 16 209 14
C1 749 23 291 18 439 29
C2 1,045 33 665 42 338 22
D 823 26 342 22 460 30
E 107 3 21 1 84 5
Total 3,208 100 1,578 100 1,530 100
Source: Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia
A= higher managerial, administrative, professional
B= intermediate managerial, administrative, professional
C1= supervisory/clerical/junior managerial
C2= skilled manual workers
D= semi and unskilled manual workers
E= subsistence/state pensioners or widows
Households
Households
Occupancy 000
1 person 307
2 people 349
3 people 280
4 people 304
5 or more people 237
without children 563
with children 914
Total 1,477
Source: Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS - WORLD PRESS TRENDS 2003 93