   
|
|
CROATIA
I. News
agency chief resigns.
The head of
the Croatian news agency HINA, Branko Salaj, has
submitted his resignation to parliament. In his
resignation letter, Salaj said that the agency was facing
increasing problems with the authorities and that his
efforts to transform HINA into a public news agency were
sabotaged. The following are excerpts from a report
by the Croatian news agency HINA:
The main director
of the Croatian news agency HINA, Branko Salaj, has asked
the Croatian national parliament to relieve him of his
duties.
The text of his
letter was presented to HINA on [5th February].
“I want the
Croatian national parliament to relieve me of my duties
as director of the Croatian news agency HINA as the
executive authorities at several levels have failed to
provide me with the necessary support in my work.
“As you know, I accepted the post of
HINA’s director under very precisely-defined terms
which ensured professionalism and objectivity of
reporting. I am pleased to be able to state that
HINA has, in the period during which I was its director,
developed positively and this has been noticed among
professionals on Croatia’s political scene and with
regards to its image abroad.
“Unfortunately, HINA has been facing
increasing problems imposed by the government, which
cannot be explained merely by general economic and
political difficulties.
“Since my
arrival at the agency almost a year and a half ago, I
have been trying to initiate the adoption of a new law on
HINA to define the agency as a public institution, which
is how it is currently trying to function, and not as a
state service, as stipulated in the present law. . . .
“Several big
state users of HINA’s services as well as users
connected with the state have been deferring the payment
of their subscription fees for such a long time that HINA
is for the first time in its history facing a serious
financial crisis.
“Most
critical problems for the development of the agency have
occurred in relation to the appointment of the
agency’s new editor in chief. I insisted that
the government appoint to the post a professional
reporter. . . .
“This
suggestion was not accepted, and subsequent experience
has shown that the new editor in chief is interpreting
his powers in a most unusual manner, and has not even
tried to adapt to certain programmes aimed at increased
efficiency of the editorial board.
“The most
serious are, certainly, tendencies towards a certain
ideologizing of the journalistic profession,” Salaj
said in his letter to the Croatian national parliament.
HINA news agency,
Zagreb, February 5, 1999
II. Debt
crisis threatens to cripple Croatia’s press.
Croatian
newspaper publishers are in serious financial trouble,
the Croatian news agency HINA reported on 18th January.
The crisis has
arisen after the Tisak distributing company, which
distributes some 75 per cent of all the daily and other
print media, failed to repay its 1.6m-dollar debt to the
publishers.
For their part,
the newspapers are now unable to repay their own debts to
the printing companies which threaten to withdraw their
services unless the debts are repaid by 23rd January.
Due to the
seriousness of the situation, the publishers are now
seeking talks with the government, HINA said.
If the
distributors fail to honour their obligations by 25th
January, kiosks will have no newspapers to sell, Croatian
TV said on the 18th.
The publishers
are however unwilling to let the Tisak company to go
under.
The owner of the
‘Nacional’ newspaper, Ivo Pukanic, told
Croatian TV: “We cannot accept Tisak going
bankrupt; it must be reformed. If Tisak goes
bankrupt, that will mean the collapse of all publishers
in Croatia.”
HRT1 TV, Zagreb,
January 18, 1999
|
