Croatian Radio Television (Hrvatska radiotelevizija, HRT) is the public television service in Croatia. It runs four nationwide television channels and five regional ones. The outlet’s radio service runs three nationwide channels and eight regional ones. HRT also has television and radio programs for the international audience. HRT runs its own Symphony, Jazz and Tamburitza Orchestras.
Media assets
Television: National- HRT 1, HRT 2, HRT 3, HRT 4; International- HRT International; Regional TV-HRT Čakovec-Varaždin, HRT Osijek, HRT Rijeka-Pula, HRT Split-Dubrovnik, HRT Zadar-Šibenik
Radio: National- HR 1, HR 2, HR 3; Regional- HR Dubrovnik, HR Knin, HR Osijek, HR Pula, HR Rijeka, HR Sljeme, HR Split, HR Zadar; International- Voice of Croatia (Glas Hrvatske)
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu)
Ownership and governance
HRT’s activity is governed by the Croatian Radio Television (HRT) Law of 2010 (amended several times since then). HRT is a legal entity that has the status of a public institution founded by the Government of the Republic of Croatia. As a beneficiary of the largest portion of the revenues generated through the license fee, HRT has to comply with a series of rules and provide financial reports to parliament.
HRT’s main governing bodies are the General Manager, the Management of HRT, the Supervisory Board and the Program Council. The General Manager of HRT is appointed by parliament for a five-year mandate. The Management of HRT consists of the General Manager and the heads of the Program, Production, Technology and Business departments. The Supervisory Board has five members, four of whom are appointed by parliament and one elected by the HRT’s employees, all serving a four-year mandate. The Program Council has eleven members, nine of whom are appointed by a specific committee in parliament (Committee on Information, Computerization and the Media). They serve a four-year mandate.
Source of funding and budget
HRT is funded through a combination of license fees (paid by all the households in Croatia that own a device able to play audiovisual programs, which are practically all the homes in the country) and revenues from advertising sales. Every home pays a fee of HRK 80 (US$ 12.5) to fund public media. Most of the funding collected from the fee goes to HRT. A small part is used to finance some other electronic media.
In 2021, HRT operated with a budget of HRK 1.33bn (US$ 189m). Nearly 90% of that came from revenues generated through the license fee, according to the latest annual report from the broadcaster. Some 6% was generated through advertising sales.
In 2022, HRT had a total budget of HRK 1.34bn (US$ 176m), with some HRK 1.13bn being generated through the license fee, according to a report from the broadcaster.
To prevent politicians from using the license fee to interfere with the operation of HRT, the level of the fee was set as 1.5% of the average monthly salary in Croatia.
Editorial independence
Following the elections of 2016, which were won by the right-wing political party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), media independence has been increasingly affected. Since then, experts have noticed a strong pro-government bias in the programming of HTV (a bias that was not present between 2010 and 2016). The broadcaster came under fierce critical scrutiny when it started to sue its own journalists who were critical of the biased editorial practices at HTV. Cases of HTV editors and journalists sacked because of their criticism have become common. As HDZ also won the elections in 2020, the government control is likely to continue.
Accusations of censorship at HRT intensified again in 2023. Hrvoje Zovko, president of the Croatian Journalists’ Association, rebuffed the claims of HRT’s Director General, Robert Sveb, that there was no censorship at the public broadcaster. Zovko said that verdicts of Croatian courts proved censorship. In February 2022, HRT lost a court case against Zovko: the broadcaster had sued him for defamation after he publicly criticized censorship on HRT.
According to the HRT Law, the Croatian public service broadcaster is supposed to act independently of political influence and commercial interests. HRT also has a domestic statute that puts forward the main tasks and obligations of the broadcaster. However, since 2016, these rules were not complied with as the government has blatantly interfered with the station’s editorial coverage.
HRT has a Commissioner that is tasked with handling complaints and suggestions from the public. The commissioner is appointed by the HRT Council.
October 2023