Nacional (weekly)

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Nacional is a Croatian weekly newspaper published in Zagreb.

[edit] Overview

Nacional was started in 1995 by Denis Kuljiš, Ivo Pukanić and other journalists dissatisfied with the editorial policies of Croatian weekly newspaper Globus. Both publications were hostile to the ruling HDZ government. Soon a bitter competition developed between the two magazines, as they tried to grab the same readership using the same questionable techniques of investigative journalism. Both magazines became renowned for publishing sensational articles against political opponents often based on the alleged testimonies of anonymous or fictional witnesses. Nacional is widely considered to be the voice-piece of Croatian president Stipe Mesic. The magazine denies these allegations.

In late 1990s Nacional’s circulations plummeted following the launch of Jutarnji list. At the end of 2000 Ivo Pukanic borrowed a loan from the Hypo bank and launched the poorly edited daily Republika. Critics immediately accused the bank of influencing editorial policy and complaints of excessive advertising soon flooded in. Readers couldn’t distinguish between news articles and advertisements. It shut down after just six months with a reported loss of DM 600,000 per month. On September 5th, 2001, Zagreb’s Foreign Press Bureau reported Republika: "Promised to be a respectable political newspaper. However, its profile quickly swung this paper close to being considered a tabloid. Namely, its CEO, Ivo Pukanic, is known to advocate publishing unconfirmed news, which frequently led to unfounded accusations and even litigation. Pukanic's reason for closing down the newspaper was its low readership, i.e. inadequate sales."

Pukanic then intensified Nacional’s editorial policy against leading figures in the ruling HDZ. He was the first journalist to attack Croatian general Ante Gotovina with accusations of criminality (Nacional 204. 10.13.1999). These attacks continued between 1999-2000 in the run-up to a crucial governmental election where the HDZ was replaced. The articles bore a familiar pattern: Croatian war veterans were liberally denounced as drunkards, war profiteers, arms fixers and drug barons. Some verged on the farcical. Unidentified senior officers of the Croatian Ministry of Defence were accused of arms dealing with the IRA and ETA. This was clearly intended to signify General Gotovina whom Pukanic had previously accused as being the chief collaborator in an alleged presidential coup. The allegations were later discovered to have been fabricated in order to boost Nacional’s sales.

In 2001, General Gotovina was indicted by the ICTY and went into hiding. The general, considered a hero, enjoys widespread support amongst the Croatian public. Pukanic claims to be the only journalist to have interviewed Gotovina since his disappearance and Nacional has published a number of articles apparently supportive to him. Gotovina supporters view Nacional’s motives with suspicion however and many consider it as commercial exploitation. Suspicions are also abound due to Pukanic’s self-confessed close relationship with Croatian police chiefs working alongside MI6 agents in Operation Cash - the undercover operation to catch Gotovina.

After the year 2000, Nacional shifted its editorial policies to include more business and entertainment oriented content. Today's Nacional is similar in format and content to German language newsweeklies.

Nacional is owned by its editors and journalists, Ivo Pukanic being the majority shareholder.