by Sasa VEJNOVIC and Denis ROMAC
In the end Kristic stressed that "in the past the HTV did not have similar attitude with respect to Jasenovac", referring to the way the HTV ignored and suppressed information about Jasenovac during HDZ's rule. However, the HTV was not an exception in that. The state continuously had ambivalent attitude with respect to Jasenovac, as something that cannot be ignored, but also must not be emphasized. Late president Franjo Tudman always sent as his envoys to Jasenovac WWII communist guerilla veterans, although their recent actions and statements belied their past. Thus, in 1999 General Janko Bobetko provoked a chorus of whistles with his speech at the commemoration in Jasenovac, because he mentioned everything but Jasenovac and the crimes that were committed there in WWII. The very same year, the [Catholic] Church also provoked a scandal by refusing to sent a priest to the commemoration in Jasenovac. Thus the prayer included a rabbi, [Muslim] hoja and a representative of the Serb [Eastern] Orthodox Church, but went without a Catholic priest.
The attitude of the HTV with respect to the commemoration of Bleiburg victims has always been clearer and more consistent. That commemorative gathering was always been directly broadcast on the HTV, regardless of the Ustashe [Croatian WWII pro-Nazi movement] iconography that was always abundant at that gathering. In that the TV merely obeyed its owners, the state and its leaders.
The assertions of the top editors of the HTV that the commemoration from Jasenovac has never in the past received better coverage than this year, by which they want to indicate that the TV has finally decided to openly discuss victims of Ustashe crimes, is rather shaky. It's been several months since the Latinica show about de-Ustashization has been recorded, but it still hasn't been aired despite the recommendation of the HTV Council and promises of the editor-in-chief that the show would be aired. And despite editor-in-chief's proclaimed intentions to appoint an editor for human rights programming, precisely human rights non-governmental organizations recently had to protest in connection with Latinica, Jasenovac, the documentary film about the massacre in Spanovica sixty years ago...
Even the assertions of the second in line editor at the HTV that it still hasn't been decided whether the mass at Bleiburg will be directly broadcast are not entirely sincere because a week ago the media received a memorandum from the secretary of the Croatian parliament informing them that the holy mass would be served at the Beliburg field and that it "will be directly broadcast by the Croatian TV". The memorandum was written on April 19, long before Kristic's statement that the TV brains still hadn't decided what to do with Bleiburg. Therefore, it is clear that the HTV would this year, yet again, without any consideration directly broadcast Bleiburg if it weren't for the reaction of some non-governmental organizations and individuals, as is also clear that not one of the responsible editors has even considered whether it would be appropriate to directly broadcast the commemoration in Jasenovac. Whatever the state TV editors decide, it is undeniable that this editorial team also finds Jasenovac less appealing than Bleiburg.