The scandal surrounding the banned program Latinica was set up in order to compromise Jasna Ulaga-Valić, the newly elected editor-in-chief of Croatian Television (HRT), and the majority faction of the HRT Council, which were felt that the political and business structures of the national television station were threatened by her election. Latinica was pulled on the insistence of Velimir Đuretić, editor of the entertainment program, who last week gave his written explanations for “bunkering” the piece dedicated to removing the Ustasha influence in Croatia. When Jasna Ulaga-Valić finally realized that she had been set up, the goal had already been accomplished: the new editor-in-chief left the impression that she is no different from the former HDZ TV commissioners.

Velimir Đuretić requested on Monday afternoon that Ulaga-Valić cut the Latinica show, claiming that the TV station could be sued for the piece. The editor-in-chief, who did not watch the program, accepted his requested out of fear of a lawsuit. However, the consequences will be drastic. As Nacional has learned, Đuretić is not the only person who will be leaving his position. Considering that she no longer trusts anyone, Ulaga-Valić is getting ready to “clean-up” the majority of director Mirko Galic’s editorial pets: from Hloverka Novak-Srzić and Andreja Rora to Vanja Sutlić. Something similar was also announced prior to the Latinica scandal. Completely unlike the editors in chief to date, Ulaga-Valić held a meeting not with the bosses in the station, but with all the journalists, and announced big changes in both the station’s programming and its personnel.

Đuretić’s Letter

On Monday, February 18 in the late afternoon hours, Đuretić forwarded a letter to the editor-in-chief in which he claimed that Denis Latin had produced a doubly objectionable show: both legally and politically. Due to the reference to the “criminal regime of Franjo Tudjman”, Đuretić wrote, the General Attorney’s office could launch criminal proceedings against HRT. The letter also claimed that the show was also politically suspicious, since the title ‘Does Croatia need a law on de-Ustashization?’ could be interpreted as supporting Slobodan Milošević, who was to appear that same day before the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. However, if he were to personally cut the show, Đuretić continues, Latin would accuse him of censorship. Thus, he insisted that the responsibility go to the editor-in-chief, either for the potentially dangerous political and legal consequences or for taking it off the air.

Considering that it was less than two hours to airtime, not enough time to make any changes, Jasna Ulaga-Valić was frightened by potential consequences and she agreed to cut the show from that night’s program. However, by the next morning she had already made another decision: to fire Đuretić due, allegedly, to a job poorly done. As the press reported, the editor is responsible to warn the author of a show or piece about professional errors or misconduct, and to point out weaknesses, including potential legal risks. This, of course, is the purpose of the editor’s position.

Đuretić knew very well that Denis Latin was had been preparing a show on the ‘de-Ustashization’ of Croatia for over two months. The topic had officially been announced prior to the New Year. All of the reports and pieces had been completed and put together ten days prior to the scheduled air date, and the guest discussion had been filmed in the studio one week prior, on February 11. Had the editor been watching over the sector of television he is responsible for – and paid for – then Đuretić could have watched the completed show, and should have, much earlier.

Games to bring Latin down

In that case, Latin would have had sufficient time to hear and perhaps accept some of Đuretić’s proposals, to cut some of the controversial parts and to avoid a censorship scandal. Finally, on the day of air, a time slot between 6 and 8 p.m. was reserved, where minor changes still could have been made to Latinica. In that case, the author must be informed on time, since removing only one sentence is a timely technical procedure. Denis Latin was alarmed too late, at 7:15 p.m.

As usual, Đuretić did not even touch the finished material in the days proceeding. According to his colleagues at HTV, he never did. He sometimes gave a copy of the show to Ante Obuljena, head of legal issues, to review its “action ability”, and he would watch Latinica on the TV screen with the rest of the Croatian public. It is intriguing that this time, out of the blue, he decided to take his editorial duties seriously, at an unusual time and in an unusual way: he finally watched Latinica, but only hours before it was scheduled to air. And that is how he discovered the massive legal and political problems which, in such a short time frame, could have been corrected in only one way: cutting the show.

And indeed, instead of the expected Latinica show on February 18, HTV showed a film. The following day, all of the daily newspapers carried the story of how Ulaga-Valić was declaring this move consistent of Marija Nemčić, who during her mandate had cut Latinica 12 times. As was quickly learned, Latin’s piece on Ustashization and de-Ustashization was cut from the program due to a piece surrounding the Jewish tragedy at the Ustasha camp at Jasenovac. A shot of the camp at Dretelje, a Croatian camp opened in 1993, where Muslims were held, was included in the same piece, and ended with the following commentary: “Six decades later, the notorious Tudjman regime showed that concentration camps still appear to be an elegant solution to the minority issue.”

Taking Galić’s bait

In spite of her inexperience in assessing the political weight of media projects, it appears that Jasna Ulaga-Valić was quick to take the bait. She was manipulated and tricked, and Đuretić was the exponent of a much greater lobby at HRT: the one surrounding director Mirko Galić which for days has been spreading rumors that the new editor-in-chief would not last for long in her position. In any case, it is hard to believe that Đuretić, expert for the domestic star scene, suddenly became sensitive to the legal and political nuances in Latin’s show. It is more likely that the letter concerning the possible connotations of the de-Ustashization of Croatia in relation to Milošević’s trial in The Hague came to be out of collusion with many more clever ideologists. And these ideologists, who are Ulaga-Valić’s opponents, were certainly aware of how she would react to the possibility of legal action and that she, inexperienced in this position, would take Latinica off the air and arouse the anger of the public. The moral of the lesson is perfectly clear: here is an editor-in-chief according to the HRT Council and public television, you’re going to wish to have Marija Nemčić back. Latinica is one of the most popular television shows, and in 2001, Denis Latin was selected as journalist of the year, often showing even more provocative issues than the de-Ustashization of Croatia. Therefore, the consequences of this decision were predictable to everyone with more political experience that Ulaga-Valić, who has built her career at HRT in the scientific and education program, far away from politics.

Games between Nemčić and EPH

In this atmosphere of an all out battle for the most powerful media in Croatia, it is indicative that the only daily newspaper to support cutting the show was Jutarnji List, published by EPH, who positioned Galić as director of HRT. This same newspaper recently also led a campaign against Denis Latin for his show on the cataclysm in the Croatian justice system and the General Attorney, Radovan Ortynski.

This was a Latinica edition which Marija Nemčić, in spite of the controversy involved, generously and fearlessly put on the air. However, she secretly delivered a copy of the show to the General Attorney’s office, as evidence that Latin was getting involved in trial proceedings in progress. Furthermore, she first approved the airing of Latin’s show “Justice and Croats”, to later complain to the HRT Council that they call upon Latin for unprofessionalism and bias. The television mafia really does exist, as Jasna Ulaga-Valić also learned, paying the price for her first mistake as editor-in-chief.

The new editor-in-chief was manipulated by the protégé of the former editor

This is why Nemčić, Galić and the bureaucracy made such a perfect threesome. It is worthwhile recalling Galić’s reactions to the interview given by Vesna Karuza, editor of a cooking show, in which she spoke of the mafia running HRT, the poor and costly program while the lobby interest groups were battling over their pathetic projects and overpaid editorial positions. Though she never specifically mentioned him, Galić launched disciplinary action against Karuza, accusing her of verbal delict against HRT. In a hearing before the Legal issues sector, Karuza quickly described how the private life of television had been disrupted by the appearance of a new editor-in-chief. She learned of Ulaga-Valić’s election while at a café, together with other TV journalists. Having openly supported Nemčić, they were surprised when they were informed by telephone of the result of the vote. She was personally shocked when she also learned that HRT had hired a private film crew belonging to a very well known HRT personality. Or when she realized that Nemčić’s whole job had been reduced to financial servicing of music festivals, while for many shows with better ratings and more profitable there never was enough money or enough time. The television mafia existed at several levels, Karuza claimed, justifying her public statements at the expense of the national media institution.