Nacional

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Nacional is a Croatian weekly newsmagazine published in Zagreb.

History

Nacional was started in 1995 by Denis Kuljiš, Ivo Pukanić and other journalists dissatisfied with the editorial policies of Croatian weekly newspaper Globus. Both publications were hostile to the ruling HDZ government. Soon, a bitter competition developed between the two magazines, as they tried to grab the same readership using the same techniques of investigative journalism. Both magazines became renowned for publishing sensational articles against political opponents often based on the alleged testimonies of anonymous or fictional witnesses.

In late 1990s Nacional’s circulations plummeted following the launch of Jutarnji list. At the end of 2000, Ivo Pukanić borrowed a loan from the Hypo bank and launched the Republika daily. Critics immediately accused the bank of influencing editorial policy and complaints of excessive advertising soon flooded in. Readers couldn’t distinguish between news articles and advertisements. It shut down after just six months with a reported loss of DM 600,000 per month. On September 5, 2001, Zagreb’s Foreign Press Bureau reported Republika: "Promised to be a respectable political newspaper. However, its profile quickly swung this paper close to being considered a tabloid. Namely, its CEO, Ivo Pukanić, is known to advocate publishing unconfirmed news, which frequently led to unfounded accusations and even litigation. Pukanić's reason for closing down the newspaper was its low readership, i.e. inadequate sales."

Pukanić then intensified Nacional’s editorial policy against leading figures in the ruling HDZ. He was the first journalist to attack Croatian general Ante Gotovina with accusations of criminality (Nacional 204. 10.13.1999). These attacks continued between 1999-2000 in the run-up to a crucial governmental election where the HDZ was replaced. The articles bore a familiar pattern: Croatian war veterans were liberally denounced as drunkards, war profiteers, arms fixers and drug barons. Some verged on the farcical. Unidentified senior officers of the Croatian Ministry of Defence were accused of arms dealing with the IRA and ETA. This was clearly intended to signify General Gotovina whom Pukanić had previously accused as being the chief collaborator in an alleged presidential coup. The allegations were later discovered to have been fabricated in order to boost Nacional’s sales.

In 2001, General Gotovina was indicted by the ICTY and went into hiding. The general enjoys widespread support amongst the Croatian public. Pukanić claims to be the only journalist to have interviewed Gotovina since his disappearance and Nacional has published a number of articles apparently supportive to him. Gotovina supporters view Nacional’s motives with suspicion however and many consider it as commercial exploitation. Suspicions are also abound due to Pukanić’s self-confessed close relationship with Croatian police chiefs working alongside MI6 agents in Operation Cash - the undercover operation to catch Gotovina.

Political stance

After the year 2000, Nacional shifted its editorial policies to include more business and entertainment oriented content. Today's Nacional is similar in format and content to German language newsweeklies.

Nacional is owned by its editors and journalists, Ivo Pukanić being the majority shareholder.

Vienna Capital Partners had a stake in the company.^[1]

Ivo Pukanić

Ivo Pukanić was assassinated by car bomb at 18:20 CET on 23 October 2008 outside the offices of Nacional. Niko Franić, marketing director at Nacional also died in the explosion. Two others were injured.

References

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2008)

• http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=548
• http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/WestEurope_NEXUS.pdf
• http://archiv2.medienhilfe.ch/News/2002/CRO/MOL0422.htm

External links

• Official website (Croatian)