A summary of the promises made by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Liberal and Catholic front Most during the campaign for the elections of 11 September in Croatia.
In March 2016, the Croatian Ministry of Culture has declared the abolition of the public support program for non-profit media. In the interview conducted by Ana Kuzmanić to the editor of the non-profit media Libela, Ana Brakus, the current situation of independent media in Coratia is described, taking into consideration financing models and the need to build partnerships to succeed in continuing publications.
The article is about the corruption in the process of public financing work of media. Mrs. Andrea Zlatar Violić, former minister of Culture, allocated to the cultural magazine Zarez cca. 160 000 Euro. But Zlatar was one of the magazine owners and the magazine was after the judicial process required to pay back this amount.
In 15 years, the weekly Hrvatsko Slovo has prepared, on a symbolic level, the ground for the success of Tomislav Karamarko's policy. The article analyzes how the Weekly has obtained the full support of the Minister of Culture Zlatko Hasanbegović, at the expense of other media and civil society actors.
The Croatian government, formally led by Tihomir Oresković but with Tomislav Karamarko and Božo Petrov in the role of deus ex machina, has decided to stifle civil society in Croatia. In this context can be interpreted the crackdown by the Minister of Culture Hasanbegović, who curtailed the Commission for non-profit media in the past months. Now, the government has decided to drastically reduce the financial resources to support civil society.
Recent changes in the HRT Croatian public broadcaster threaten the rule of law. Does this mean that we should accept this political influence upon the public service, which is paid by every citizen?
Andrija Mikulić, President of the Parliamentary Commission for information, digitalization and the media, and member of the HDZ party said, in line with the position already expressed by the Minister of Culture Hasanbegović, that the decision to suspend the funding program for non-profit media is the consequence of scandals and conflicts of interest that concerned that program. In particular, he accused Suzana Kunac of voting a funding provision in support of a media she was also a contributor for.
Only two days after taking office, the new minister of Culture Zlatko Hasanbegović dismissed the Expert committee for non-profit media within the Ministry of Culture. Apparently, Hasanbegović is not wasting his time when it comes to settling score with “enemies” of his electoral base. Is HRT, public service, next?
Velimir Bujanec, Marko Jurič and other right-wing journalists are defending themselves from charges of hate speech inciting more hate. At the same time, the HDZ is rising the question about election irregularities. Chaos is not unintentional because right-wing media are determined to control the media scene after election, convinced that they were so far “silenced” because of the previous government and not because of theirs radicalism and lack of professionalism.
