Newspapers in Croatia
According to ENINGBO.INFO, Croatia is a country located in Europe. The 1990 Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and printing and prior censorship is prohibited. In contrast, there have been threats and violence against journalists who have investigated corruption, war crimes and organized crime.
In 2008, the editor of the political magazine Nacional, Ivo Pukanić (1961–2008), was murdered by a car bomb in Zagreb that also killed the magazine’s marketing manager. Six men linked to the Croatian mafia were sentenced to murder.
The dominant news agency is the state of Hina (Hrvatska izvještajna novinska agencija), founded in 1990 and criticized for a nationalist perspective and to go the affairs of the former government party HDZ.
Television is the dominant medium and the state public service company HRT (Hrvatska Radiotelevizija), founded as a radio station in 1926, reaches its four channels with the most viewers. During the years 1990-99, HDZ used the channels for government propaganda and appointed CEOs associated with the party. The business is financed with advertising and license fees.
In 2013, there are six private nationwide TV channels and about twenty regional stations. The analogue terrestrial network closed down in 2011.
Radio is the second most widely used medium and there are six nationwide channels, of which HRT has four, as well as over a hundred local and regional stations.
The public service exception is most TV and radio channels owned by foreigners. The same goes for many of the major newspapers and magazines. Foremost is the German media groups such as WAZ Mediengruppe and Styria Media International who have invested in the country.
Internet access has increased significantly in recent years. The most common is ADSL connection, but more and more are connecting via mobile broadband. About 70% use the internet regularly.
Facebook, Google and YouTube top the list of the most visited sites in 2013, but five domestic sites are in the top ten list. The largest of them is Index.hr, a news site founded in 2002 by journalist Matija Babić (born 1978) and mainly focused on celebrity gossip and sensational journalism.
About 37% of the population over the age of 12 had accounts on Facebook in 2013. (Sweden: 52%.)
There are three mobile operators in Croatia and coverage is good. The 3G network is under development and only comprehensive in the major cities. There are three mobile operators and the largest is T-Hrvatski Telekom, controlled by Deutsche Telekom. The other two are Vip, owned by Telekom Austria, and Tele2, which is part of the Swedish Kinnevik sphere.
The daily press has been hit hard by the economic crisis but also by changing media habits. The largest is the sensation tablet 24sata, founded in 2005 with an edition of about 130,000 items. (2013). Other major nationwide newspapers are the conservative Večernji list, founded in 1959 and the left-liberal Jutarnji list, founded in 1998. The state-owned Vjesnik, founded in 1940, was closed in 2012.
Among the weekly newspapers, the women’s magazine Gloria is the largest, followed by OK! which focuses on teenagers and Story, a celebrity magazine. Since the previously mentioned Nacional was closed down in 2012, Globus, founded in 1990, is the leading news magazine. Globus is regarded as unpolitical and the magazine is known for its burgeoning journalism. The magazine is owned by the Croatian newspaper group Europapress Holding which, among other things. also publishes Croatian editions of Cosmopoltan and Playboy.
Culture
According to APARENTINGBLOG, Croatian culture has been influenced by the powers that have ruled parts of the country over the centuries – Austria, Hungary and Italy. With the so-called Illyrian movement in the 19th century a uniform Croatian literature emerged. The aim of the movement was to create a united South Slavic kingdom with a common culture.
Until the First World War, modern Croatian literature emerged with authors such as Antun Gustav Matoš and the symbolist poet Vladimir Vidrić. From the outbreak of war in 1914 and until his death in 1981, Miroslav Krleža, with his often socially critical authorship, was a dominant figure. Writers who were noted after the 1991 dissolution of Yugoslavia include Vjekoslav Kaleb, Petar Šegedin and poet Jure Kaštelan. A number of writers who took a stand on Croatia’s politics during the wars of the 1990s were forced to leave the country. This includes Slavenka Drakulić, known for his book Balkan Express, which deals with the wars of the former Yugoslavia. The same theme concerns Dubravka Ugrešić in the Museum of the Unconditional Surrender.
The naive peasant painting, often on glass, has gained international attention. Since the 1930s, artists from the so-called Hlebine school, such as Ivan Generalić, have portrayed everyday life in the Croatian countryside.
2017
December
Near confrontation in Piran Bay
December 30
Slovenian police boats patrol the Gulf of Piran, and thus act in accordance with the arbitration dispute with Croatia, which would come into force the day before (see June 2017). According to the judgment, Slovenia considers itself entitled to reject Croatian fishing boats – but they are protected by Croatian police boats. The Slovenes threaten to fine the Croats, but these do not consider the arbitration to be legitimate. Slovenia has threatened to block Croatia’s entry into the EU passport Schengen as long as Zagreb refuses to follow the verdict.
October
New diplomatic quarrel between Serbia and Croatia
October 4th
A summit scheduled to be held in Zagreb in October-November between the Presidents of Croatia and Serbia, Kolinda Grabar Kitarović and Aleksandar Vučić, has been postponed indefinitely. The reason is the statue of the Major of the then Yugoslav People’s Army, Milan Tepić, unveiled on September 29 in Belgrade. Rather than surrender to Croatian troops during the 1991 war, Tepić let a Yugoslav weapons depot in the city of Bjelovar, Croatia, blow up in the air, killing himself and 12 other soldiers and threatening many civilian lives. The Croatian Foreign Ministry reacted with an upset note, accusing Serbia that the country “is still not ready to settle its role in the bloody collapse of Yugoslavia”; Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić responded by calling this “anti-Serbian hysteria”.
August
Bridges with Bosnia and Herzegovina
August 31st
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković explains that Croatia intends to continue construction of the Pelješac Bridge, which will facilitate relations between the country’s southern and northern parts, despite objections from Bosnia-Herzegovina. The neighboring country had the day before sent a letter of protest to both Croatia and the EU, claiming that it must first resolve remaining border issues between the countries. Thus, new life is brought to life in what has been a matter of dispute between them ever since the bridge construction began in 2007. Bosnia has always maintained that the Pelješac bridge would make it difficult for ships to enter Neum, the country’s only port.
Trade war averted
August 11th
After the Croatian government withdrew a decision to increase customs controls on imports of fruit and vegetables from neighboring countries by more than 200 percent, a trade war in the Balkans could be averted. This happened after the trade ministers from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia after a Sarajevo meeting submitted a joint written protest to both Croatia and the European Commission.
July
Severe forest fires
July 17
Prolonged heat and drought cause severe forest fires to erupt in several directions and threaten resorts along the Adriatic coast. The worst affected area around the country’s second largest city, Split, where many are without electricity and water. Residents are forced to keep doors and windows closed so as not to let in smoke and several villages have been evacuated.
June
Statement in boundary dispute
June 29
The Permanent Arbitration Tribunal (PCA) in The Hague comes with its opinion in the protracted dispute over how the sea border should be drawn in the Piran Gulf between Slovenia and Croatia (see Foreign Policy and Defense). The Court is largely on Slovenia’s line. However, Croatia has understood that it will not accept the court’s ruling after it has emerged that Slovenia previously had unauthorized talks with one of the judges in the court. Croatia has made it clear that it wants to continue negotiating on its own with Slovenia. The EU has called on both parties to accept the ruling.
New government is formed
June 9
HDZ forms a new government with the small Liberal Democratic Party HNS, which was previously part of the alliance led by the Social Democratic SDP. Seven new ministers are appointed, two of whom belong to HNS.
May
Disbelief against the Minister of Finance
May 4th
Finance Minister Zdravko Marić manages with hardly any margin of confidence in the opposition brought by the opposition accusing him of a severe debt crisis in the grocery group Agrokor. Before entering politics, Marić held a high position in Agrokor, a company that accounts for 15 percent of the country’s GDP.
April
The government is cracking down
April 28
The government is definitely collapsing when Prime Minister Plenković dismisses the fourth and final minister of the coalition partner Most. The other three Most Ministers were allowed to leave the day before, after unexpectedly announcing their intention to support a declaration of confidence in Finance Minister Zdravko Marić.
Sanader sentenced to prison
April 7
Former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader is sentenced to four and a half years in prison for receiving bribes in connection with a real estate deal in 2009. Since the penalty is less than five years, Sanader does not have to start serving it until the verdict has been set in a higher court. Sanader, who was head of government in 2003-2009, denies all charges (see also October 2015 and June 2016).
