Croatian Radio Television (HRT)

Croatian Radio Television (Hrvatska radiotelevizija, HRT) is Croatia’s public service broadcaster, a public institution whose founder is the Republic of Croatia. Its current legal framework is the HRT Act of 2010, as amended. It operates four national television channels, three national and eight regional radio stations and two international programmes, has eight regional centres and maintains four music ensembles: the Symphony Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra, the Tamburica Orchestra and the Choir. Robert Šveb has been its Director General since 20 October 2021; his mandate expires on 20 October 2026.

Media assets

Television: National – HRT 1, HRT 2, HRT 3, HRT 4; International – HRT International, a programme for Croats living outside Croatia.

Radio: National – HR 1, HR 2, HR 3; Regional – Radio Dubrovnik, Radio Knin, Radio Osijek, Radio Pula, Radio Rijeka, Radio Sljeme, Radio Split, Radio Zadar; International – Voice of Croatia (Glas Hrvatske).

Digital: the hrt.hr portal and the HRTi streaming platform

Ownership and governance

The HRT Act, adopted by the Sabor, Croatia’s Parliament, on 3 December 2010, defines HRT as a legal person with the status of a public institution whose founder is the Republic of Croatia, with the founder’s rights exercised by the Government. The Act has been amended several times and partly repealed by the Constitutional Court, most recently on 6 February 2024, when the Court repealed the provision denying HRT employees the right to strike.

HRT’s bodies are the Director General, the Directorate, the Supervisory Board and the Programme Council. The Sabor appoints the Director General by a majority of all MPs for a five-year term, on the proposal of its Committee on Information, Informatisation and the Media, after a public competition published by the Supervisory Board, which also initiates any dismissal. The Directorate comprises the Director General and the directors of HRT’s organisational units. The Supervisory Board has five members, four appointed by the Sabor by a majority of all MPs and one representing employees, for four-year terms. The Programme Council has 11 members, nine elected by the Sabor after a public call and two elected by HRT’s journalists and programme staff, for four-year terms; it appoints the Commissioner for HRT service users. The Director General reports to the Sabor once a year, after obtaining the opinions of the Supervisory Board and the Programme Council.

Director General Kazimir Bačić was arrested on suspicion of corruption in June 2021, and the Sabor dismissed him on 15 July 2021 by 116 votes to 2. He was indicted in June 2023 for bribery and influence peddling over his alleged role as an intermediary between a businessman and the late Zagreb mayor Milan Bandić, and in February 2026 the Zagreb County Court confirmed the indictment. On 20 October 2021 the Sabor appointed Robert Šveb as Director General by 77 votes to 55, after the Media Committee had proposed him in the absence of opposition members. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) described him as a person in flagrant conflict of interest, and journalists’ professional associations opposed his appointment.

The Supervisory Board published the competition for a new Director General on 15 July 2026, and Šveb decided not to run for a new five-year term. The Media Committee heard six candidates on 24 September, and on 14 October media reported that the ruling majority would propose Dražen Miočić, who has worked at HRT since 1994, with a Media Committee proposal expected on 16 October and a Sabor vote on 21 October. Maja Sever, president of the Croatian Journalists’ Union (SNH), said that the Director General is chosen by a simple political majority in the Sabor, and Hrvoje Zovko, president of the Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND), said that the Croatian model is not in line with European legislation. The Možemo party called for the election to be postponed until a new HRT Act is adopted.

The Sabor adopted a law implementing the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) on 6 March 2026 by 78 votes to 57. In force since 26 March, it turned the Agency for Electronic Media into the Agency for Media and gave it oversight of the procedure for appointing the governing bodies of public service media; it did not amend the HRT Act. The European Commission’s 2026 rule of law chapter on Croatia states that discussions on public service media reform focus mainly on the model for electing management bodies, and that legislative reforms for HRT are expected to be presented by late 2026.

Source of funding and budget

HRT is financed mainly by a monthly fee that anyone owning or possessing a radio or television receiver, or another device for receiving radio or audiovisual programmes, must pay to HRT; households pay a single fee, while legal entities pay for each receiver. The fee may not exceed 1.5 per cent of the average net monthly salary and is set by HRT’s Supervisory Board with the prior approval of the Council for Electronic Media, since March 2026 the Media Council, and HRT must pay 3 per cent of the fee revenue it collects to the Fund for the Promotion of Pluralism and Diversity of Electronic Media. HRT also receives state budget grants, some under its contract with the Government and an earmarked annual Government grant, as well as advertising and commercial revenue. The fee has remained unchanged since 2012 at EUR 10.62 a month.

In 2023 revenue was EUR 178 million, including EUR 152.2 million from the fee, EUR 11.2 million from advertising, EUR 4.5 million in commercial income and EUR 5.5 million in grants. In 2024 revenue was EUR 200.7 million, including EUR 155.2 million from the fee, EUR 15.3 million from advertising and EUR 19.9 million in grants, and the public service activity recorded a deficit of about EUR 6.1 million.

In February 2025 the Government adopted a consolidation plan for HRT drafted with Deloitte, which put the optimal workforce at between 1,900 and 2,100, against 2,721 employees in mid-2024, and the state budget set aside EUR 28 million for severance pay. In the first quarter of 2025, 333 employees left at a total cost of EUR 20.1 million. For 2025 HRT reported a record EUR 161.1 million in fee revenue, EUR 13.7 million from advertising and an overall positive result of EUR 3.1 million before tax. Its 2026 financial plan, adopted by the Supervisory Board on 12 December 2025, estimated grants at EUR 43.6 million in 2025 and projects revenue of EUR 216.0 million in 2026, including EUR 161.75 million from the fee, EUR 18.65 million from advertising and EUR 24.4 million in grants, of which an earmarked EUR 23 million Government grant and EUR 1.4 million under the contract with the Government for international programming, and 2,325 employees at the end of 2026.

Editorial independence

In March 2016 the Sabor, led by a new majority of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Most party, dismissed HRT’s Director General, and the acting Director General demoted or reassigned approximately 70 journalists and editors, which Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and five other organisations described as an attempt by the outgoing government to assert control over HRT. In January 2018 HRT dropped the film Ministry of Love from its announced slot after a protest by the Association of Widows of Croatian Homeland War Veterans, and broadcast it a week later at a later evening hour.

In 2018 HRT sued HND, Zovko and the head of the HND branch at HRT, and in February 2019 HND counted 35 HRT lawsuits against journalists and media worth at least HRK 2,027,500 in total. HRT dismissed Zovko, one of its journalists, in September 2018. In February 2022 the Zadar County Court upheld a judgment rejecting HRT’s claim against Zovko over his public statements on censorship at HRT. In a decision published in May 2024, the Supreme Court reversed lower-court rulings that had found his dismissal unlawful; the International Federation of Journalists denounced the decision, and in September 2024 the Constitutional Court upheld the Supreme Court’s ruling that the dismissal was lawful. At a session of the Sabor’s media committee in May 2023, Šveb denied that censorship existed at HRT, while Zovko cited judgments concerning his censorship allegations and restrictions on employees’ expression.

A Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) report published in February 2025 reported criticism of HRT for alignment with HDZ, stated that investigative journalism had been sidelined, citing editorial manipulation favouring HDZ politicians; it called for urgent reforms to align HRT with Article 5 of the EMFA. A further MFRR report in June 2025 stated that HRT’s news programmes in particular exhibit routine government bias. The European Commission’s 2025 rule of law chapter on Croatia noted that journalists had publicly reported political influence, editorial interference and censorship, claims contested by HRT’s management.

In October 2025 the HND branch at HRT’s television said that a news report on a Sabor round table about the Jasenovac camp had opened space for revisionism. In June 2026 HRT 2 broadcast the recording of Marko Perković Thompson’s July 2025 concert in Zagreb, and the Media Council found no breach of the law. In September 2026 the HND and SNH branches at HRT’s television criticised the main evening news of 4 September for covering an upcoming protest in Zagreb over hazardous waste dumped in Lika through government reactions, without presenting the organisers, their reasons or their demands, and stated that HRT’s television journalists are not employees of the Government’s public relations.

The Programme Council appointed Zdravko Kedžo as Commissioner for HRT service users in November 2023.

AI and digital policy

No publicly available HRT editorial policy governing generative artificial intelligence was identified for this update. HRT’s 2026 financial plan provides for the implementation of artificial intelligence solutions in the form of voice and e-mail bots to handle licence-fee payers’ enquiries. Croatia’s national law implementing the EMFA requires media service providers, electronic publications and video-sharing platforms to label content generated in any way by artificial intelligence, and makes failure to do so a misdemeanour.

Classification rationale

HRT remains classified as Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu). It is financed predominantly through the licence fee, while its leadership and oversight bodies are largely selected by parliament. Independent monitoring has documented government-favouring coverage and editorial interference despite statutory guarantees of independence.

October 2026