TELEVISION OF THE CROATS

AIM, ZAGREB, April 27, 1995 Announcement of the public competition for allocation of radio and tv concessions published a few days ago by the competent agency, the Council for Telecommunications, marked the beginning of the process of legalization of non-state electronic media in Croatia. Namely, pursuant to the provisions of the Law on Telecommunications adopted by the Assembly back in the middle of last year, in order to broadcast radio or television program it is first necessary to acquire a concession allocated by the Council for Telecommunications which has nine members. Concessions refer to different territorial regions on several levels (municipalities, cities, districts, the state), and the concessionary must be a shareholding company in which a member, a legal of a physical entity, may have a share of 25 per cent of the capital at the most.

The Law on Telecommunications prescribed that by June 15 this year, all the existing radio stations which were so far mainly the property of local municipal assemblies, must be adjusted to the new legal requirements. The first competition, therefore, refers mostly to the already allocated concessions - about 70 concessions were announced for radio stations in cities, where local radio stations already exist. Nevertheless, announcement of the competition for concessions for television are a novelty. In the first instance, two district and 14 city tv concessions were announced.

But, this does not mean that any significant step towards diversity and pluralization of the electronic media space will necessarily be made, nor that the decisive influence of the Croat Radio-Television (HRTV) will by this be essesntially disturbed. First, provisions of the Law do not refer to HRTV, it remains public, state television with compulsory fee as the main source of financing. As the most influential medium, HTV will surely remain without competition for a long time, because announcement of a competition for a state tv and radio concession (which would cover at least 60 per cent of the population pursuant to the Law on Telecommunications) is not even anticipated. This is due only to "technical reasons", as Ivica Mudrinic, Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications in the Government of the Republic of Croatia, declared officially. He says that plans for channel distribution with the neighbouring countries have not been agreed yet, that, for example, Hungary does not wish to give up ceratin channels because it uses it for military needs, there are also, he claims, problems with Italy, Austria and Slovenia, too, and Bosnia & Herzegovina is not even mentioned... That is why Mudrinic uses the term "available resources", and the ruling party is ready to recognize and (with a heavy heart) allocate channels only on the local level.

There are few in Croatia who can be surprised by such actions, if one judged by the relation of the Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) towards the media so far. Acquiring control over the state television and exploitation of its influence was one of the first things it did after the elections. After a long time, only after pressures from abroad combined with attempts from within the state (the most powerful opposition party, the HSLS, made its own draft law on television and submitted it to the Assembly a lot before the HDZ), did it adopt the Law on Telecommunications in June 1994 which regulates establishment of private electronic media. The continuation of the story is therefore logical - now when there is a law (for all its worth), its implementation should be delayed for as long as possible.

First, nomination of the Council for Telecommunications which is appointed by the Assembly was delayed. This agency consisting of nine members has a decisive role in allocation of concessions. Deputies in the Assembly are appointed (one from the ruling HDZ and one from the opposition), representatives of the Academy, university professors, representatives of religious communities and minorities are nominated for membership in the Council. The fact that Minister Ivica Mudrinic chairs the Council caused the severest criticism in the public, and since his Ministry is in charge of the technical part of the business, and since pursuant to the Law, it controls the operation of the radio and tv stations, critics described Mudrinic's position with the well known saying: "The judge brings charges against you, the judge passes judgement..."

After the Council was appointed, competitions took a long time coming, they were postponed several times, and now they have finally been announced but for local concessions only. Another convenient opportunity for "media engineering" will be during decision-making about the possible concessionaries in certain regions, due to the requirements the Law prescribes in respect to programs, financial and personnel conditions. Assessments are mostly the matter of "free judicial conviction" of the members of the Council for Telecommunications. For instance, the Law prescribes that domestic, Croat program will have the advantage in acquiring concessions, and it is expected to satisfy what the members of the Council assess as the "public interest".

It may happen, therefore, as was the case with the enterprises in the so-called transformation and privatization, that people close to the authorities will acquire ownership of the media in this privatization. Names of some of the prominent newly established magnates in the sphere of the media are already often mentioned in relation to the city radio and television stations, and they are known to have developed their "empires and feuds" in the media thanks to connections with the ruling party. For instance, Miroslav Kutle who "privatized" Slobodna Dalmacija journal two years ago with state money, who bought a part of the Split Television Marjan, is now said to have an eye on the popular Radio 101 in Zagreb. Media are one of the favourite pastimes of Branimir Glavas in Osijek, too, and Slavonian television is growing under his aegis there, unhindered, although strictly by the Law this was an illegal pirate television. Televisions that grew "wild" in cities where opposition parties won the local elections were visited by state inspectors for several times if necessary, closed down and sealed up, while Slavonian television telecast witout problems, developing quickly after an investment of two million German marks of founding capital which "cropped up unexpectedly". And, behold a miracle, one of the first two district concessions which will be allocated in this competition is in the District of Osijek where District Prefect Branimir Glavas runs the show.

On the other hand, in Istria, the porject of District TV Nova was initiated and support arrived from the Council of Europe. But, the problem is that the initiator of the project is the local administration controlled by the Istrian Democratic Alliance (IDS), so there will be no concession. The competition for the Istrian television will probably be announced when the hastily established Independent Istrian Television - NIT controlled by the Istrian HDZ gets strong enough.

This is how the saga about private, independent etc. television and radio stations in Croatia continues quite predictably. And in order to prevent any changes, after certain elections perhaps (and new election winners who will establish control over the media again) - state HTV cheers us up. There is an abundance of novelties there - for instance, the new graphic design of the Daily News Program or, finally, what the public waited so long to see: in the new edition of weather forecast program after the Daily News, we learn what the weather will be like in - Boshniak-Croat Federation. Wherever it may be...

IGOR VUKIC