Changes of editors-in-chief in main Croatian dailies, Vjesnik, Vecernji List and Slobodna Dalmacija are being announced in the political circles. These changes were discussed at the top of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ, the ruling party) as early as June 1995 but were postponed until this Fall and the conclusion of the elections for the Parliament. It is considered that now the conditions are ripe for the dismissal of the chief editors of the papers under the state control: in Vjesnik and Vecernji List, as well as in Slobodna Dalmacija which is nominally privately owned.
The present editor-in-chief of Vecernji List, Branko Tuden, former sport journalist who took over the paper after the death of Ivo Lajtman in 1992, should be transferred to the diplomatic service; it is claimed that he will be replaced by one of the members of the paper's editorial board. Ruzica Cigler, presently the second most influential person on the editorial board, is mentioned as the most likely candidate to replace Mr. Tuden.
The replacement for the current editor-in-chief of Vjesnik, Ante Ivkovic, the former editor in Vecernji List and the head of the Slobodna Dalmacija's bureau in Frankfurt [Germany], has been sought ever since Mr. Ivkovic was appointed to his position, actually ever since the consequences of his management of the, at the time, most influential Croatian daily became apparent.
Nenad Ivankovic, Vjesnik's and Vecernji List's correspondent from Bonn and a frequent guest commentator on the Croatian TV is the most likely choice for the new editor-in-chief of Vjesnik. A similar offer was made a few months ago to Mirko Galic, the Paris correspondent for the above mentioned papers; however he refused, probably as the result of his bad experience at the Croatian TV; he has been appointed to the position of the Croatian TV director for a short period of time.
Mirko Mador, a former Parliamentary representative of HSS [Croatian Peasants' Party] who had defected to HDZ, was offered the position of the director of Vjesnik, which is under state ownership. Mador declined because of the large debts of the company "Novi Vjesnik", the amount of which reaches DM 8 million. Allegedly, Privredna Bank, the largest Vjesnik's lender has promised to reschedule the debt after which the former HSS representative might still accept the director's chair.
Slobodna Dalmacija, from Split, might also get a new editor-in-chief. The present boss, Josip Jovic is the only one among the editors of the papers close to HDZ who wasn't decorated for the Croatian independence day. On the contrary, Jovic wasn't even invited to some of the President's meetings with journalists, and his TV appearance was badly received by the paper's management. Jovic stated during his TV appearance that he didn't see a need for early elections.
Last week's commentary in Slobodna Dalmacija regarding the disgraceful election victory of Branko Miksa over Ivo Skrabalo, in which Jovic ridiculed the election result by comparing it to a certain football match from a long time ago, in which "Dinamo" [a team from Zagreb] lost from "Buducnost" [a team from Podgorica, Montenegro] due to a political decision, was the main proof of Jovic's departure to those familiar with the political and media situation in Split.
Dino Mikulandra, the former top official in Slobodna Dalmacija and now the editor-in-chief of Nedjeljna Dalmacija is the main candidate for the Jovic's replacement.
Mikulandra started, almost a year ago, a bi-weekly magazine in color, Stil, which despite the strong promotional campaign, only managed to reach the circulation of 14,000 sold copies. Stil is now printed in black-and-white and edited by Robert Zaja.
If Dino Mikulandra were to become again the most powerful person in Slobodna Dalmacija, although there is, as we found out, a resistance to that idea in the leadership of the Split publishing house, a new editor-in-chief of Nedjeljna Dalmacija would have to be named. Nedjeljna Dalmacija is the oldest Croatian political weekly, whose three editions (Croatian, German and Austrian), were sold during September in approximately 25,000 copies per week. The candidates for the position of the editor-in-chief of Nedjeljna Dalmacija are: Ante Gugo, new manager of the Nedjeljna Dalmacija's Zagreb bureau and the originator of the concept of the political magazine Staze which never reached publication, and Krunoslav Kljakovic, a former, very successful, chief editor of Nedjeljna Dalmacija who was replaced by Miroslav Kutle when he took over Slobodna Dalmacija.
The publishing house Slobodna Dalmacija has been considering for a while the launching of two new publications with which it would try to draw the public outside the region [Dalmacija, coastal Croatia]. Specifically, the two proposed publications would be a sport oriented weekly and a music magazine in color, whose concept would be similar to that of the British magazine Q.
A new weekly which is being founded in Zagreb by Denis Kuljis, a former editor-in-chief and one of the founders of Globus has grabbed the attention of the media circles. As we found out, Kuljis will edit an illustrated political magazine which still hasn't been named. According to some sources, Kuljis' new magazine will be named Nacional and the first edition should hit the streets either on 11/23/95 or in the middle of December.
The only magazine with political orientation launched in the last few months is Hrvatski Trenutak which comes out from time to time and is edited by the former sport journalist, Darko Imenjak. So far only two issues of Hrvatski Trenutak have been published. Obviously, this is not a serious or long lasting project.
Hrvatski Rijecki List can be included in the short-term media projects. it was announced as a daily which was to compete with Novi List. So far only one, trial issue number zero, has hit the kiosks, and only as a part of the pre-election campaign of Hrvoje Sarinic. Hrvatski Rijecki List was launched as a counterweight to Novi List the only daily in Croatia whose editor-in-chief HDZ cannot replace. Pilot issue of Hrvatski Rijecki List is professionally so weak that it certainly cannot survive on the market. Hrvatski Rijecki List is published by HDZ.
According to the latest informations, Poslovni Tjednik will be published as a supplement to one of the HDZ's daily newspapers, most likely Vjesnik.
Hrvatski Obzor is at the verge of closing because of its low circulation. Its editor-in-chief, Milan Ivkosic, is also in charge of the weekly art supplement in Vjecernji List. According to the latest circulation data, 14,600 copies of Hrvatski Obzor are printed weekly, while 7,500 are sold. Out of the total number of sold copies, almost 6,000 are sent directly to the government's institutions such as the Ministry of Defense, which means that the part of circulation sold at the kiosks and abroad, where Obzor is also distributed, is about 2,000 copies!
The other Croatian political weeklies are also not doing well as far as the circulation is concerned. Therefore, they have a minor influence on public opinion. This is true for Panorama from Zagreb, Slobodni Tjednik, Nedjeljna Dalmacija and to a certain extent Feral Tribune, although this newspaper has a specific, incomparably more important political status. During September, Panorama was sold in 28,000 copies per issue and Feral in 42,000 which is too low for significant earnings. Slobodni Tjednik, with an average circulation of 10,000 copies, is in a much worse position; during the last few months is has been published as a bi-weekly.
Besides Globus [circulation of 134,838 sold copies in September] and Gloria [117,182 sold copies in September], all of the other influential Croatian papers with large circulation are dailies: Vecernji List with average sold circulation ( in September) of 154,000 copies and Slobodna Dalmacija with 96,000, recorded a growth in comparison with their circulation one year ago. A regional paper, Novi List with 36,000 sold copies (to which should be added 17,000 sold copies of similarly pro-opposition and regional Glas Istre), is significantly stronger and more influential in comparison with the "national" Vjesnik which sells and distributes to state institutions on average 32,000 copies daily. Therefore, it is not surprising that the dismissal of the editor-in-chief of Vjesnik is expected.
If we compare Globus' investigation of the newspaper market from last year with the latest data, we can conclude that the majority of the papers published in Croatia are either stagnating or have recorded a fall in the number of sold copies! Several smaller magazines, who were available at kiosks a year ago, for example Sunce, Pecat, Danas and Magazin are not with us anymore, while color magazines like Teen and Svijet have recorded a small fall in circulation. The largest fall in circulation, if we compare November 1994 and September 1995 was recorded by the magazines targeting younger readers, such as Pop Express and Rocky. The circulation of Pop Express fell from 37,000 to 13,000 sold copies, while that of Rocky fell from 32,000 to 12,500.
A slight growth in the number of sold copies was recorded by, as we have already mentioned, Vjecernji List (8,000 copies) and Slobodna Dalmacija. Split weekly, Feral Tribune had a largest growth in the number of sold copies; it raised its circulation by 25%, namely from 31,000 to 42,000 copies sold!
The overall trend of fall in sold circulations indicates that the Croatian readership is less and less satisfied by the offer at newspaper kiosks.
The announced changes in the most influential papers which are the result of HDZ's political decisions will also very quickly get their evaluation on the market, as did "drzavotvorni" [patriotic] newspapers like the weekly Hrvatsko Slovo, published by the Croatian Writers' Society, and which was launched at the suggestion of president Tudman. With circulation of 4,000 copies.