Draxblog III

Business.hr Survives

Finally, one good news about Croatian media. Business.hr will continue to be published despite its previous owner, Swedish media group Bonier, pulling the plug one month ago. Đurđica Klancir, its editor-in-chief, informed the staff this morning that the paper and on-line news portal will continue to operate due to new buyer.

Seebiz.eu mentions two possible candidates - CME (owners of Nova TV) and Robert Ježić, owner of Novi list. Vienna Capital Partners, owner of Nacional magazine - which was mentioned as potential buyer - is not going to be part of deal, according to seebiz.eu sources. The new owner will be known on Monday.

10 Croatian Tourism Myths

Croatian electoral system is reflection of general state of affairs in Croatia, where mediocrity rules and hard work is never properly rewarded. Best example could be found in last parliamentary elections during which Tonči Tadi, one of the most hard-working and active members of Sabor, failed to return to his seat. Thankfully, Tadić, whose specialty is in tourism and maritime affairs, continues his work by blogging and Pollitika.com published a post called "10 Croatian Tourism Myths".

The myths Tadić tries to debunk are:

1. Tourism is a magic wand that would solve unemployment problem in Croatia.
2. Croatia enjoys huge incomes from tourism.
3. Tourism serves to promote domestic products.
4. Tourism is overburdened with taxes.
5. Croatia is too expensive tourist destination.
6. Tourism preserves environment more than industry.
7. Tourism, especially elite tourism, brings the fastest development possible.
8. All tourism resources should be privatised.
9. Tourism should dictate civic planning.
10. Tourists aren't interested in Croatian culture and prefer "international" offerings

Judging by the comments, most readers of pollitika.com tend to agree with Tadić and his analysis. In light of recent macroeconomic events, the post is rather somber and grim reading.

Sanader Finally Does Economy... Sort of

Croatian government has finally reconciled itself with the reality. Yesterday Sanader's cabinet announced ten "anti-recession measures". The most important of those is the series of budget amendments. The details should be known by the end of March.

Some of those measures - like proposed tax of 10 lipas (0,01 €) per mobile text message - aren't going to sit very well among Croatian business leaders. Ivica Mudrinić, head of T-Com, is already complaining.

So far, this is the best Sanader could do before local elections. By announcing measures, he showed that something is being done. By not dwelling on details, he avoids any chance of alienating potential voters before local and regional elections in May.

Jutarnji list In Trouble?

After business.hr, there is growing speculation about the next Croatian media casualty of Great Depression 2.0. Possible candidates could be found among papers belonging to Europa Press Holding, including Jutarnji list, one of Croatia's leading dailies.

Speculations are probably going to be fueled with this part of Financial Times article about crisis in Eastern Europe.

Still, there is a sense of gathering gloom even in countries that have so far escaped the worst. In Croatia, record numbers of skiers have holiday­ed abroad this winter, property prices on the Adriatic coast remain high and the nightspots of Zagreb, the capital, are busy. But all is not well, says Davor Butkovic, a commentator at the daily Jutarnji List. Speaking in Zagreb’s fashionable Bulldog bar, he says: “We don’t have an economic crisis yet but there’s a feeling that something bad is coming. At Jutarnji List there is a 30 per cent drop in advertising this year.”

If Jutarnji list goes down - which at this stage isn't likely - that won't be precedent for EPH. Metro, which was owned by EPH, folded last year, as well as Feral Tribune. 

BREAKING NEWS: Business.hr Going Down

Few hours can change everything. Index.hr has just published "Breaking News" about business.hr ceasing its operation. Business.hr published report about its owner - Swedish company Bonnier Business Press - "pulling out" due to economic problems caused by situation in Scandinavia and Baltics.

If this news is true, this would be true shame. Business.hr was one of rare Croatian news portals that tried to serve public without resorting to sensationalist crime reporting and deep coverage of Croatian "celebrities".

Business.hr, however, reports that the print edition will circulate until the end of March. According to them, "there are talks" with "possible partners" about "rescuing quality brand".

Business.hr attacked by malware!

I interrupt my blogging silence with what appears to be dramatic news about Croatian media institution. Business.hr, online edition of eponymous Croatian business newspaper, is unavailable due to its site being infested by malware. T-Zombix, Croatian blogger extraordinaire, investigated the matter and displayed his findings in this post.

It appears that everyone who happens to visit the site might get infected with something called
Mal/Iframe-G.

T-Zombix suspects that the "Youth" (in other words, Croatian Democratic Union Youth activists/astroturfers) got angry due to their inability to spam articles comments with pro-Sanader material.

On the other hand, this isn't the first incident that major Croatian news portal got offline due to malicious activity. In December, index.hr was unavailable for two days due to DDOS attack. .

UPDATE:

T-Portal is, so far, the only news portal that bothered to report this news.

Another Sort of Croatian Dream

 Vicenco Blagaić (Vicenco Blagaic), 28-year old businessman and former film producer, from Split, apparently haven't read this blog. If he did, he wouldn't have used Hrvatski san (Croatian Dream) for the name of his ambitious project. 

The project envisions transformation of Čiovo (Ciovo), small island connected with a bridge to nearby city of Trogir, into first Croatian modern metropolis with 100,000 inhabitants, skyscrapers, stadiums, opera house, lavish residential houses etc.

Until now, Čiovo was not known as particularly attractive or famous location. It is most famous as popular location for weekend houses for all those fortunate enough to afford real estate and not fortunate enough to afford boats or vehicles fit for extreme mountain conditions. Its most famous resident is Valentina Tasić (Valentina Tasic), contestant in last season of Croatian Big Brother who used her long tenure in front of cameras to extensively and very graphically describe its remoteness and the way it affects life of its citizens.

Blagaić launched his initiative in yesterday's Slobodna Dalmacija. On-line edition features media presentation of the project in the form of 16.5 Mb AVI film.

Blagaić's record as businessman is mixed. The Last Will, his adventure in Hollywood moviemaking, left much to be desired, but his recent organisation of Croatia Boast Show in Split was generally viewed as successful.

All that is of little importance in intensive discussions sparked by yesterday's article. The talk about Hrvatski san has even snuffed any discussion about yesterday's abandoment of Hajduk vs. Dinamo game due to flooding of Poljud stadium.

To describe reactions of many Split citizens towards this project as scepticism is understatement. Some of the people are very hostile - those who view it as a nothing more than sophisticated high-tech version of otherwise simple real estate speculation are, however, in minority compared to those who are opposed to the project due to environmental issues.

Just as with plans to re-build Split Riva, ancient arguments about "architectural violence", "rape of tradition", "destruction of nature" are pulled.

However, all those arguments only hide much deeper reason why this project is resented by many sections of Croatian public. If Blagaić delivers only a tiny fraction of what he promised, he would enter history books as one of the most successful Croatians to ever live. Merely starting the project is the achievement most of his co-citizens and countrymen can only dream of.

And if the project takes hold, its realisation would require a lot of hard work. And this is where Hrvatski san doesn't fit into Croatian Dream. Blagaić is rejected by Croatian public for the same reason Maroje Sabljić (Maroje Sabljic) had to leave Big Brother house and the same reason why The Aprrentice will never have its Croatian edition.

 

Commercial Television Breakdown in Croatia

Five years ago Croatia had only one major television network - state-run HRT. Today, there are three major television networks - one state-run, two owned by private individuals and corporations.

According to free market fundamentalists, this should reflect in more quality programme and more viewing choices for Croatian public.

However, the reality seems to be far from that lofty ideal. Both Nova TV and RTL Televizija initially fared very well and brought some sort of refreshment to Croatian airwaves only to experience spectacular descent of its quality and ratings shortly afterwards. Apart from "Big Brother" - which is beset with all kinds of problems - and "Sanja" talk show - RTL Televizija doesn't have to offer anything particularly attractive or interesting to viewers. Same goes for Nova TV whose executives all but gave up on reality shows.

This is reflected in some hard financial data, published in Croatian Banka magazine. In the first six months of 2005, RTL Televizija had 4 million € of losses. Nova TV had 4.8 million US$ of losses in first nine months of 2005. The article claims that both networks can expect some profit not earlier than 2007.

Such worries apparently don't bother HRT. Its programme is made of talk shows, quiz shows, sitcoms and other lavish spectacles that RTL Televizija and Nova TV can only dream about. And HRT appears to make money instead of losing it - in 2004 they had 2.7 million HRK of net profit.

Failure of commercial televisions to provide more variety or quality to viewers is best seen in their sports coverage. Five years ago Croatian state television had regular airings of Italian, Spanish and English soccer leagues (plus Croatian), as well as NBA basketball. Nova TV, which used to air German and English soccer, as well as Copa America, practically banished soccer from its programme. RTL Televizija's sports coverage is reduced to away matches of Croatian national team. In the first months of new basketball season, none of three networks bothered to air any basketball match - this changed only recently with Cibona's Euroleague matches being aired on HRT.

In the old days, most of the sports was aired on HRT 3. That channel was recently sold as frequency to the owners of today's RTL Televizija. It was replaced with HRT Plus - satellite/cable channel for expatriate Croatians which occasionally airs important sports events that can't fit into regular programme. Recently, some HRT officials announced plans to launch HRT 24-hour channel dedicated solely to sports. So, the television in Croatia went full circle - state-run television is providing commercial content just as it had done so when there weren't any commercial networks around.

Tell Us Something We Don't Know

Transparency International has just published the survey which puts Croatia on 70th place of Corruption Perception Index. Croatia is, according to the survey, one of the most corrupt countries of Europe - with only the likes of Serbia, Bosnia, Rumania and Macedonia being perceived as more corrupt.

Croatia, according to the survey, has corruption levels similar to Burkina Faso, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and, last but not least, Poland.

Those who pay attention to European affairs - which, of course, don't include mainstream Croatian media - are probably aware that the increase of corruption in past few years played major part in former Communists being not only removed from power, but all but obliterated during recent polls.

This is where the similarities between Croatia and Poland end. I doubt that Ivo Sanader and his party comrades should worry about Transparency International reports having any effect at the polls.

 

Sanader Is Angry

Having Croatian prime minister expressing anger isn't such novelty. But there are few occasions when the object of his anger aren't Croatian journalists or politicians who doubt his ability to bring prosperity into this country.

Today Croatian media recorded even rarer occasions of Sanader being angry at international institutions - which usually get anything but criticism from Croatian prime minister, regardless how unpopular they might be among Croatian citizens.

Ivo Sanader expressed outrage over World Bank declaring Croatia to be 118th most business-friendly country in the world in its report, way below any other country in Eastern Europe. He said that World Bank was "misinformed" about his government's efforts to cut the red tape and digitalise Croatian land records.

On the other hand, there are some reasons for Sanader to be in good mood. ICTY has just announced that it is going to transfer its jurisdiction in Rahim Ademi and Mirko Norac war crimes proceedings to Croatian judiciary, thus helping Sanader deflect criticism from the right wing section of his party and Croatian electorate.

Even better news came from Zagreb Drama Arts Academy where his daughter Petra Sanader just got accepted as student. If she is as tenacious as her father while describing efficiency of his government and future prospects of this country, Croatian theatre and film world might discover a talent of Meryl Streep proportions.