Times when I used to extensively watch RTL Televizija are definitely behind me. So, on February 25th I missed the opportunity to witness one of the major events in Croatian journalism - Ana Tenžera reporting about water pollution in the city of Slavonski Brod.
There was nothing particularly wrong about that report, except from a tiny detail that caused mayor Mirko Duspara to threaten RTL Televizija with lawsuit.
Ms. Tenžera, who recently became 5th sexiest Croatian woman according to Globus magazine jury, apparently didn't bother to check her sources. The sources in question, according to RTL Televizija, were web reports, which happened to be four months old. In other words, Tenžera browsed the web, found what looked like scoop and made television report about it, without checking the dates.
RTL Televizija - and veteran readers of this blog are probably aware of it - had its moments in the past, but this proved to be too much even for them. Ana Tenžera was quickly, publicly and unceremoniously sacked, with RTL brass issuing apology after apology and promising that such fiasco would never happen again.
What makes this story rise above just another sad example of professional standards in contemporary Croatian media is the fact that Ana Tenžera happened to be the daughter of Veselko Tenžera, one of the greatest personalities in history of Croatian journalism, after which prestigious journalistic award is named. It appears unlikely that Tenžera would continue family tradition.
I must admit that I'm tempted to make further comments about this affair, but that probably won't happen due to some reasons I'm not at liberty to reveal.
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