Michael J. Dichand belongs to the most influential media family in Austria. His father, Hans Dichand (82), is the owner, founder, and editor of Kronen Zeitung, the best selling Austrian newspaper that sells one million copies daily. Nowhere else in Europe does one in eight citizens buy a newspaper and every third person read it. Aside from his father and brother, Christopher, who is in line to become the next editor of the Kronen Zeitung, Michael Dichand has not been involved with journalism over the past several years. His main interest has been energetics: he is convinced that electric energy is the moving force for Europe’s prosperity over the next few decades.

NACIONAL: Because you deal with the production of organic food, what do you think about the forcing of American GMO products? Genetically modified food is nothing that I want to have in my environment. I believe that no one has the right to subject countries that distribute GMO products to political or economic pressure. Americans do not want to cooperate in experiments on stem cells or cloning and no one has the right to force them, but in the same way, they have to respect other people’s rights to their differences. That does not mean that I am against the United States, but I do think that their needs to be equilibrium in the world, not domination of one country or lifestyle. Just how the yin and yang in Eastern philosophy must be in harmony, there must be a balance in different ideologies, religions and lifestyles in the world.He spent several days in Croatia meeting with Goran Granić and leading members of HEP, trying to convince them that the announced sale of the Croatia Electric to foreign multinational corporations would be a huge mistake. Instead of that, HEP – as well as other public companies- should distribute shares to several of Croatia’s pension plans, which mean that shares would be divided among Croatian citizens. The stocks would be managed by HEP as a non-profit organization, and profit would not enter the pockets of tycoons but would finance education and other public interest services. At the meeting with Granić, Dichand promised that he would develop an entire feasibility study and find funding by the end of the summer.

Michael Dichand was born in Vienna in 1962 where he studied law, political science, journalism and agronomics. He founded the largest organic food company in Austria, and then worked for Kronen Zeitung and RTL for one period of time. In 1993, he went to live in Cuba. He spent four years on Castro’s island, and then moved to California. As he admitted himself, after living in one of the last remaining socialist countries in the world, he decided to see how the strongest capitalist country functioned. At the same time, he studied psychology and enjoyed hypnotism. Now, he is again residing in Vienna, where his family is waging a war with the German WAZ who is trying to take over Kronen Zeitung.

NACIONAL: You deal with energetics and health food production even though Dichand is one of the leading last names in Austrian media?

That is just the way it is, even though I have been connected to newspapers my entire life. Our family is the third generation in newspapers, and my father, Hans Dichand, is the founder and editor of the most influential Austrian daily newspaper, the Kronen Zeitung. Our father is 82 years old and is slowly starting to retire; my brother Christopher should inherit. The truth is that a problem occurred in the shape of a multinational corporation, WAZ, which owns 50% of Kronen Zeitung and thinks that family tradition is not good for newspapers.

NACIONAL: What is going on now?

Separating it from other daily newspapers, Kronen Zeitung has a very strong political influence, it can clearly be said that it is the Austrian version of the New York Times. The thing is, we are politically independent and do not take any sides; that is the main reason that we are seen as mediators between the Government and the citizens. In other words, Kronen Zeitung does not create anyone’s opinion, only the standpoint that its readers send to politicians. The latest public poll shows that 85% of our readers think that we are a reliable newspaper, which is proof that they believe us. That credibility is further proved by the fact that on average one million copies are sold daily, or that everyday three million people in Austria read our newspaper. That in no way means that all three million always agree with what we write, but they believe in our credibility and independence. In return, we publish letters from our readers on a daily basis, among which we also publish letters that criticize us.

NACIONAL: What is the secret to media success in your family?

My father began working in local newspapers after World War II, from which he rose to the position of editor at Kleine Zeitung. At that time, he was one of the few journalists without a stigma of belonging to the Nazi movement because he was an ordinary soldier in the war. He was a sailor on the Adriatic and North Sea, but with no rank. From Kleine Zeitung he went to the Austrian Kurier which was, at the time, a very influential newspaper, but he did not last long because the owner did not want an editor who was more important than he was. He then founded the Kronen Zeitung, with the idea that it be a cheap daily newspaper for the general public. He succeeded, but only through several tough battles in which he had to fight to maintain his independence and professional dignity. In the first case, our newspaper was taken over by a union, and they managed to have their own editor in place for one week; after that, the courts made a decision in our favor.

The second time, during the late eighties, the current partner, who owned 50% of the share, offered to sell his share of the newspaper to my father for 2.6 billion shillings. Because we did not have that amount of money, and we did not want to be in debt with the bank, WAZ purchased shares in Kronen Zeitung. We are now fighting the third battle to protect Kronen Zeitung from the media giant, WAZ, who are currently attempting to take it over. Because they own 50% of the shares in Kronen Zeitung, they want to stop my brother Christopher from inheriting the position of editor in the company. The funniest thing is that Christopher is completely independent and has no political ambition, which is not the case with WAZ. Apart from that, I am convinced that if WAZ takes over the Kronen Zeitung, with which they would take over the largest part of Austrian media, they would do no good for our citizens. I think that we are strong enough to force WAZ to sign an agreement to get them to pull out of Kronen Zeitung.

NACIONAL: Do you wish to repurchase the 50% of the shares?

Surely we will purchase the entire German share, but not for ourselves. My father wants to found a national stock corporation, where shares would be offered to our readers. The idea is set up so that readers who purchase the paper daily become the co-owners, which would further strengthen their relationship with Kronen Zeitung. With that, we will dispose of even the smallest chance of political influence because we would have to design the newspaper literally to match the needs of our readers, who will be the co-owners.

NACIONAL: Different from your opinion, in Germany it is believed that WAZ is impartial to political battles?

That is not true, WAZ is traditionally close to SDP. Their interest is to take over 80-90% of Austrian media, which we oppose. Our ambitions are different, we are satisfied with this one daily newspaper which is especially successful and now we want to increase the quality, and not the quantity of Kronen Zeitung editions.

NACIONAL: One piece of evidence that supports your independence is the publishing of articles in which companies are criticized that advertise their products?

Of course we criticize them. Criticism in the newspaper is very important, but this sort of partnership can often bring problems. Kronen Zeitung opposes a nuclear lobby and we are patronized that the Czech nuclear plant Temelin, located near the Czech-Austrian border, was closed. On the other hand, do you think that WAZ will stand on our side when one of the most important positions was taken over by Bodo Hombach, for whom it was proven that he built a private home thanks to the 1.3 million DM donated to the nuclear lobby? Expect him to oppose the nuclear company at the same time the devil accepts the Church. If we were to accept that sort of political game, we would immediately lose our public, who are against nuclear plants.

NACIONAL: What privatization do you recommend for Croatian Electric?

I want to investigate the possibility for a new energy system in Croatia. After World War II, the Americans took over domination in economics and the speed of advancement because, opposed to the Europeans who remained dependant on coal, they based their industrial development on petroleum. Petroleum has four times the energy potential of coal, which means that Americans had that much more of an advantage over Europeans. Both power sources are transported from far-away countries, which is expensive and impractical. That is why I believe that future world advancement is dependant on electric energy, which we have enough of in Europe.

NACIONAL: What did you and Goran Granić discuss?

I explained a simple principle to him: development of the energy system is merited to the citizens who pay for electricity that they spend and, with that, strengthen companies such as HEP. If there is a large unemployment problem in the country, people will have less money to spend; the money that could help operate public companies. That is the reason why I suggested to Vice President Granić that the Government should not sell Croatian Electric to foreign buyers, but that the energy sector should become a form of non-profit organization. This means that the largest part of HEP would be taken over by several pension plans but the real owners would become citizens that are members of the pension fund. Most of them today do not manage considerable amounts of capital, and in this fashion, they will become the owners of leading public companies in Croatia. Because this would be a non-profit organization, all profit would enter into strictly controlled activities such as improving education, health care, or social welfare.

NACIONAL: What were the reactions to your initiative?

Even though at first they were distrustful, Goran Granić and people from HEP were interested. So that it would not appear as though I am making it up, I promised that I would elaborate a financial plan and find investors by the end of the summer, of which 85% would be from Croatia and 15% foreign. Croatia is somewhat similar to Austria because foreigners own most of the financial, media and infrastructural institutions. I do not think that is fair; if HEP was created with money and hard work done by Croatians, then I think that they should have a chance to manage it. One big issue in the US is that 40% of the population has shares in General Motors, General Electrics and other large corporations, which gives them the feeling that they are rich. I believe the same thing can be done in Europe so that citizens can manage the resources of their own country.

NACIONAL: Do you believe in the success of non-profit funds in the global world?

I do, even though I am aware of the fact that many people are skeptical. Today’s world is ruled by multinational companies who act completely unacceptable in social terms. The anti-globalization movement is not against globalization, it is against the destruction of individual rights and socially unacceptable behavior. For the most part, I would say that 98% of the anti-globalists are peace loving, and I have reason to believe that the minority is secretly financed by multinational companies.

NACIONAL: You lived on Cuba for several years and you learned a lot about their customs?

I read a lot on Cuba and I was interested in seeing their new version of socialism. I spent four years there, from 1993 to 1997, which came at the time that Cuba was opening itself to the world. I came at the end of 1993 for the first time, met several individuals and established contacts, but because I did not know Spanish I felt that I never completely grasped their lifestyle. That is why I returned to Austria and went the intensive Berlitz Spanish course, after which I was able to have complicated conversations in Spanish with everyday people. I returned to Cuba, in the region that Fidel Castro grew up in and opened an old fashioned farm for the production of organic food, modeling the methods used on my farm in Austria. I received permission for that project from the Minister of Police, Raul Castro, who explicitly banned anyone from getting involved in operation of the farm. Results came soon after.

When I took over, productivity was so poor that farmers received one egg a day, half a chicken each month, and two ducks per year. When I left, production was threefold. Unfortunately, after three years, Cuba brutally shut down their effort to open themselves to the world and I realized that I could not learn anything new there. I packed my bags and traveling to the US because I wanted to learn their system, which is incontestably the most efficient in the world.

NACIONAL: How would you describe Cubans?

They are poor and slightly lazy. But Castro’s regime did have several good things: before the victorious revolution on 22 December 1959, 70% of the Cuban population was illiterate, while today, only 3% are still unable to read. The entire problem is based on the fact that even though the totalian left-wing regime had some purpose during the 1960’s, they are no longer valid. Biology will have a role in it, and I am convinced that the USA should stop the unnecessary economic sanctions on Cuba. There is no logical way that 11 million Cubans can be a threat to 290 million citizens of the most powerful world country. From an economic standpoint, this problem is easy to solve.

The value of American companies that Cuba nationalized is approximately $1.5 billion US, which is almost exactly the amount of Cuban currency that was confiscated in American banks. Mutually the findings can be broken, but clearly the problem here is the opposition of ideologies. When you are aware that the Presidential positions are held by Fidel Castro and George Bush, it is difficult to assume that these two individuals will become friends in the near future.

NACIONAL: And what were your impressions of the USA?

After you leave a socialist country in which most things begin with “la revolucion”, the capitalism experience appears to be very interesting. In the USA, the main essence is private initiative, but they differ from the rest of the world in their exact mathematical approach to problems. When Americans enter a position, everything is based on precise calculations and nothing is left to chance. That realism allows them 100% control of the market law. The way in which they do this is really impressive. After three years in the United States, I came to central Europe which looks like a very interesting experiment, because the region has many things in similar.

NACIONAL: Where did you live in the United States?

When I was not traveling to Washington, San Francisco, or other cities, I lived near Los Angeles in California, in a typical town of 25,000 people; Laguna Beach. That place is the personification of the American dream because in this small town, there were three daily newspapers and 17 religious groups. Citizens of Laguna Beach are not very rich, if we look at American criteria, most of the locals are middle class that own a house of about 100 to 200 square meters in size; but this is California with its charm. Everyday life is played out on the streets, and whenever you want, you can go to the beach, sit at a table and stare at the Pacific. I went to psychology classes and became interested in hypnosis.

NACIONAL: Because you deal with the production of organic food, what do you think about the forcing of American GMO products?

Genetically modified food is nothing that I want to have in my environment. I believe that no one has the right to subject countries that distribute GMO products to political or economic pressure. Americans do not want to cooperate in experiments on stem cells or cloning and no one has the right to force them, but in the same way, they have to respect other people’s rights to their differences. That does not mean that I am against the United States, but I do think that their needs to be equilibrium in the world, not domination of one country or lifestyle. Just how the yin and yang in Eastern philosophy must be in harmony, there must be a balance in different ideologies, religions and lifestyles in the world.