ZAGREB, 25 January, 2021 - Media outlets received at least HRK 10 million from the state budget in 2020, with the Styria newspaper publisher and Narodni Radio, Catholic Radio and Extra FM radio receiving the most funding, according to data from a study by the portal Media Daily.

The head of research at Media Daily, Zoran Kovačić, has told Hina that the aim of the analysis was to transparently give information on how much money each media outlet received for the services it performed for a particular ministry, state agency, state office or court.

According to data on national and regional daily newspaper publishers, total revenues were HRK 6.65 million, down 3.53% in real terms compared to 2019. Daily papers received money from 34 state budget-related sources. Six publishers received the largest amount from the State Electoral Commission, and only one from the Agriculture Ministry.

The Hanza Media company received the most money, HRK 2.31 million, followed by Večernji List daily, which received HRK 2.29 million, nearly 15.3% less than in 2019. 24sata, which is part of the Styria media company like Večernji List, received slightly over HRK 750,000 last year. Thus the Styria media company's outlets received more than HRK 3 million from the state, which is the largest amount for a newspaper publisher. In addition to them, Glas Slavonije received nearly HRK 600,000, Novi List about HRK 490,000, while Glas Istre and Zadarski List received much less money from the state -- about HRK 220,000 together.

As for radio broadcasters, Narodni Radio received the most, HRK 598,000, followed by Antena Radio (HRK 495,000), and Catholic Radio (HRK 381,000). The first two radio broadcasters received 86% and 74% less state funding respectively in 2020 than in 2019, while Catholic Radio received 41% more. However, Extra FM was the biggest winner in 2020, as it received HRK 219,000, or 448% more than in 2019, while the AMM (All Market Media) agency received over HRK 125,000, or 557% more than in 2019.

On the other hand, only four national web portals received state funding in 2020, and that was only HRK 61,312. The Dnevno.hr website received slightly more than HRK 25,000, or as much as 548% less than in 2019. Direktno.hr received only HRK 8,000, or 932% less, while Narod.hr did not receive anything. The Index and Telegram web portals, which did not received state funding in 2019, were given HRK 15,500 and 12,817 respectively in 2020.

According to Kovačić, the more money the state gives to media outlets, the more they focus on reporting and the less on research.

He thinks that the reduced funding is a result of Agriculture Ministry's smaller budget, as it spent more money from EU funds in 2019, and of fewer events being organised by media outlets.

Kovačić says that the Media Daily team processed "raw" data obtained from the state treasury.

This study is related to money from the state budget, and it is important to note that media outlets receive money from state-owned and public companies, cities and municipalities, as well as local companies, agencies and tourist boards. In addition, a large number of electronic media outlets receive money from the fund promoting electronic media pluralism and diversity in the amount of 3% of the Croatian Radio and Television licence fee, while print media outlets have benefitted from the VAT rate being reduced to 5%, the study said.

ZAGREB, October 23, 2020 - Numerous influential Croatian media outlets on Friday joined a campaign against hate speech launched by the Croatian Journalists Association (HND) and the Croatian Journalists Union (SNH), disabling readers' comments below news articles from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The call to join the campaign #zajednobezmrznje (togetherwithouthate) was accepted by the leading dailies Jutarnji List, Slobodna Dalmacija, 24sata, Vecernji List, Novi List, Glas Slavonije and Glas Istre, which earlier in the day announced on their web portals that they would disable comments below all articles for two hours.

The media outlets said they were joining the campaign to point to the problem of hate speech and help launch a debate about it.

The public broadcaster HRT, too, joined in the campaign as did the web portals Telegram, T-portal, Tris, Zagreb.info, the N1 broadcaster, the Serb minority weekly Novosti, the Italian minority daily La Voce del Popolo, local media as well as numerous media and communication experts.

Hate speech spills over from social networks into real world

HND president Hrvoje Zovko said he was exceptionally pleased with the response to the campaign, expresing hope that those outlets which did not participate today would join next time.

SNH leader Maja Sever said that it was exceptionally important to think about and discuss hate speech as well as reach agreement on ways to fight it.

She noted that reporters being targeted was not the only problematic thing, but that also problematic was that insults and threats were becoming normal and common in the public sphere.

The HND and the SNH also called on media outlets to join their campaign #danemanovinara to remind the public why journalism is important and to send them links to news stories that would not have been discovered had it not been for journalists.