Davor Butkovic

A surprisingly calm atmosphere pervaded the offices of Croatia's newest newspaper a few days before one of its top editors was about to stand trial. Smoking cigarettes and chewing on pizza, young reporters typed stories for the next day's edition. Even Davor Butkovic, the editor charged with libeling Croatia's cabinet, did not seem worried as he raced between meetings through halls that still smelled of fresh paint.

"I deeply believe that I did my job strictly professionally and that in a democratic society journalists must be allowed to report what they see," said Butkovic, whose blunt, florid face and intense manner have become familiar to many Croatians through television coverage of his trial.

The case, which was still pending as of October, is a sign of the challenges Butkovic's newspaper, Jutarnji List (Morning Paper) must overcome if it is to succeed as Croatia's first independent daily in forty years. Jutarnji List faces the same problems as many businesses starting up in a newly private economy as this small country -- once a republic in the former Yugoslavia -- emerges from war and communism.

The case against Butkovic was part of an effort by the Croatian government to crack down, through regulations and hundreds of lawsuits, on the country's few independent media outlets. Visiting Croatia on August 30, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called for "respect for a free media" in order to "keep leaders accountable."

Butkovic was charged with libel after the magazine he formerly edited, Globus, published an accusation last year by Kroll Associates, a U.S.-based private investigations company, that the government was corrupt and influenced by organized crime. In response, all twenty-three of Croatia's cabinet ministers filed suits seeking a total of about $700,000 in damages. On April 20, a judge ruled that neither Butkovic nor Globus (owned by the same company as Jutarnji List) could be held responsible for the accusation. But the government appealed the case and it was handed to another court. If he loses, Butkovic faces up to eight years in prison. Butkovic also has seven other libel suits currently filed against him by politicians who are connected to or are members of the ruling party.

In Croatia, journalists can be sued for libel for reporting facts considered insulting or harmful to a government official's reputation. To be acquitted, they must prove their intention was not to offend. The Croatian Journalists Association is trying hard to reform the penal codes. About 500 lawsuits are pending against journalists in Croatia, including about 130 criminal libel suits totaling over $13 million in fines, reports John Fox, director of the Washington, D.C., office of the Open Society Institute. "The Croatian government is setting the pace for media repression in the region," Fox says. "It uses a relentless strategy of economic, administrative, and police measures against the media and individual journalists."

Most of the media are controlled or influenced by the government. Print media in Croatia are relatively freer than electronic ones, but both are subject to pressures the state imposes with taxes and fines. The Telecommunications Council, appointed by the parliament and composed of politicians from the ruling party (HDZ), decides which media to license. A Croatian journalists' group recently proposed making the majority of the council members who are not connected to the ruling party, but parliament rejected it.

"If you have a good relationship with the ruling party, then you get the broadcast license," says Jagoda Vukusic, deputy editor-in-chief of the daily Novi List and president of the Croatian Journalists Association. She estimates that nearly all of the fifteen TV stations in Croatia are owned by people sympathetic to the ruling party.

Croatian journalists have accused President Franjo Tudjman of acting as editor-in-chief of all media, electronic and print. The journalists say that the HDZ has refused to discuss ways of making HRT, the state-controlled television station, more independent. Secretary of State Albright said that she told Tudjman that "HRT cannot operate this way." She added that "having an open and free media, especially a television that functions freely, is one of the benchmarks of what has to happen."

Feral Tribune, an influential, satirical weekly, often angers the Tudjman government with critical articles and has suffered heavy court fines and legal bills as a result. Vesna Alaburic, a media lawyer, says that Feral Tribune could probably win its case in the European Court of Human Rights, but such a process could take up to six years and bankrupt the newspaper in the process.

Butkovic says he's hopeful that Jutarnji List can resist future economic pressures from libel suits that smaller newspapers cannot. That's because his paper is owned by the well-funded media conglomerate Europa Press, which also publishes the Croatian editions of Playboy, Cosmopolitan, and other magazines. Many journalists working in the smaller, independent media outlets are having difficulty making a living, and some newspapers are near bankruptcy.

"I tell my reporters to go out and do their best, most aggressive reporting and don't worry about who it might offend," Butkovic told me in Zagreb. "Other newspapers are worried about making enemies with the political parties."

The Croatian government is "not at all open to the press," says Butkovic. "It's impossible for reporters to get an interview with the president." The media never broadcast or publish criticism of Tudjman, adds Vukusic. "And he has done plenty of things wrong that we know about."

Croatians are well aware of the media's problems in their country. A recent poll sponsored by the Croatian Journalists Association found that only a minority of respondents agreed that the media are in a better state than before the 1991 war between republics of the former Yugoslavia. Seventy percent agree with the statement that, "There is no democracy without full media freedom." Another study found that HRT is the most important source of information for 74 percent of the population. Four of the six newspapers in Croatia are state-controlled and these inform 8 percent of the people while weekly newspapers are the main source of information for about 2 percent.

Jutarnji List's publisher, Marjan Jurleka, says that the success of the paper depends not only on editorial freedom but also on how well Croatia's economy recovers from the effects of the 1991 war. The paper's costs are high because it must import newsprint from Finland. At about 75 cents per copy, the paper is costly. The average yearly per capita income is $3,992.

To compete, Jutarnji List has been promoted with a vigorous ad campaign that included billboards and radio jingles with the slogan -- "365 Puta Bolji!" -- 365 Times Better. The paper hit a circulation of about 110,000 in its first week of publication in April, selling out quickly on newsstands. Now, with an ongoing circulation of about 160,000, the paper is trying to distinguish itself from its competition by focusing on global news and offering a Web site. "I'm not overoptimistic," Jurleka says. "If Croatia is to be open, it must have a free press. But a free, private press also needs to make money."

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