Culture Minister Andrea Zlatar Violic has reversed a decision to dismiss her media advisor Milan Zivkovic, which means that he will remain in his position and will also be at the helm of a future media department in charge of collecting and analysing information and views relevant for the reform of the media sector and will also be tasked with moderating public debates on a new media strategy.
"Milan Zivkovic remains the media advisor and he will run the new department on the media which the ministry is going to set up, as the absence (of such department) has been proven to be a great deficiency," the ministry's spokeswoman, Natasa Petrinjak, told the press on Saturday following inquiries about Zivkovic's status.
In early December, Minister Zlatar Violic of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) announced the firing of Zivkovic after he had mentioned a possible reform of the payment of the national broadcaster's (HRT) subscription fee as part of preparations of a media strategy. The proposed change in the payment of subscription fee stirred negative reactions in the public. Deputy Prime Minister and HNS vice-president Vesna Pusic later joined in a harshly-worded criticism of Zivkovic, claiming that the minister "should have thrown out that kid" already.
However, the announced dismissal of Zivkovic was met with disapproval from the Croatian Journalists' Association, reporters, Croatian intellectuals and some civil society organisations that consider him a competent professional for the media policy. They also condemned political interference in the elaboration of the announced media strategy. On 10 December, about 70 reporters, intellectuals and civil society activists sent an open letter to the culture minister, protesting against the announced dismissal of her advisor for the media sector. The signatories to the letter described Zivkovic as a man who "has done his job conscientiously and competently" and asked the minister to reconsider her decision "in the context of public interest and not for the sake of party or corporate interests". They also said that they were flabbergasted by her announcement to dismiss Zivkovic only due to "misinterpretations of his statements on the HRT subscription reform by some commercial media".
According to today's statement by the ministry spokeswoman, the culture ministry finds that misinformation and misunderstandings over the recent weeks have shown how delicate the process of adopting a media strategy is, all of which requires a higher structural and organisational support, which is why a media department should be set up.
"The huge media area, teeming with problems, needs new legislation. In order to achieve lasting and high-quality solutions, a broad media discussion with all stakeholders will be launched," the spokeswoman told the press, highlighting the importance of the establishment of the media department that is expected to start operating in early 2013.
The ministry is about to set up a co-ordinating body for preparing the media strategy, with Minister Zlatar Violic chairing it.
The purpose of the establishment of the media department and the co-ordinating body, after the media policy has been neglected for a decade, is to ensure a stable organisational back-up to this unavoidable field of the culture policy, according to the ministry's explanation.
