ZAGREB, 27 April (Hina) - The Media Ownership and Financing platform, a project by the Ministry of Culture and Media and the Agency for Electronic Media (AEM), will be presented early next week.
It contains data on media outlets and their owners, registered in official records, as well as information on revenues, methods and sources of financing, and media concessions.
The Deputy Director of the Agency for Electronic Media (AEM), Robert Tomljenović, told Hina that the establishment of the platform will ensure greater transparency regarding the ownership of electronic media, as well as enable public access to data on their financing.
According to Tomljenović, this should allow all actors in the media sector to operate under equal conditions. The project is funded by the EU Recovery and Resilience Mechanism and was implemented as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) measure "Establishing Media Fact-Checking and Public Disclosure Systems", under which the "Točno tako" platform was also launched, publishing information verified by independent fact-checkers.
"Točno tako", as the central national platform for fact-checking, is unique at the European level because it is the first launched by a media regulator, while with the platform for public disclosure of media ownership and financing, we are among the first media regulators in the EU, where this will soon become mandatory under the European Media Freedom Act," Tomljenović pointed out.
Platform open and accessible without registration
He added that from Monday the platform will be accessible via the Agency’s website - www.aem.hr - and will be fully open and available without any required registration. In designing the platform, special attention was paid to a simple user interface where the most important information can be accessed by clicking on "ownership structures" or "media financing" or the registers of electronic media.
It is possible to search by the name of the media service provider (electronic media), the type of media service, and by the legal or natural person behind an electronic media outlet operating in Croatia.
For example, when trialling the platform, clicking on the ownership structure of Nova TV, which recently received a new 20-year concession from AEM, revealed the history and changes of ownership of this commercial television station. It was easy to see that Serbian media tycoon Dragan Šolak, as a natural person, holds 35.88 per cent ownership of Nova TV.
It also shows that Nova TV operates about fifteen media services - television channels, on-demand services, and electronic publications (portals) - and that Nova TV’s share in the Croatian media market amounts to 28.57 per cent.
Relevant data can also be found for all broadcasters and legal and natural persons behind television, radio and electronic publications (portals) in AEM’s Register operating in Croatia, albeit with some limitations. For instance, data on N1 Television cannot be found as it is not registered in Croatia.
Index the most-read Croatian portal, generated €6.52 million revenue in 2023
On the other hand, the platform already provides financing data that offers the interested public insight into the ownership, strength and influence of certain electronic media, especially portals, with final data from 2023.
For example, Index Promocija d.o.o., the publisher of Index, identified as Croatia’s most-read portal, achieved total revenue of €6.52 million in 2023, but with no reported revenue from state aid, minor aid, local or regional government units, or from state advertising or advertising by state-owned companies.
The market share of Index.hr, according to the published data for 2023, amounts to 2.78 per cent. In terms of revenue, Telegram Media Group, the publisher of the Telegram portal, also stands out, with no reported income from state aid or advertising and achieved €2.39 million in revenue with a market share of 1.03 per cent. It is followed by Motus Media d.o.o., publisher of portals Dnevno.hr, Geopolitika.News, Otvoreno.hr and Zagreb.Info, with revenue of €2.27 million and a market share of 0.34 per cent.
The new platform also covers electronic publications of newspaper publishers, offering interesting business and financial data, including revenue from state advertising or advertising by public enterprises and institutions.
For example, Hanza Media, the publisher of Jutarnji list, Slobodna Dalmacija and other print editions, is listed as the publisher of nine electronic publications, with total revenue of €36.78 million in 2023, of which €7.59 million came from electronic publications, representing a market share of 3.41 per cent.
Revenue from advertising by state bodies and public institutions has also been published
In addition, revenue from advertising by state administration bodies and state-owned public institutions amounting to €351,437 has been published, the largest from Croatian Post (€65,537), followed by Croatian Lottery (€48,110).
Večernji list achieved total revenue of €16.5 million, of which €3.87 million came from electronic publications, with a market share of 1.74 per cent.
24sata achieved total revenue of €22.9 million, of which €7.44 million came from electronic publications (24sata and Express.hr), with a market share of 3.34 per cent.
The new AEM platform also offers general information about Croatian media publishers, headquarters, addresses and editorial contacts, information on issued concessions and, notably, measures imposed by the Council for Electronic Media against publishers for breaches of the Electronic Media Act over the past ten years.
This includes indictments, warnings and reprimands issued to media publishers for failing to adhere to programme obligations, inappropriate advertising, and hate speech or discrimination based on gender, religion, language, political or other beliefs, race or nationality.
AEM also responded to previous claims about incomplete data regarding state advertising or advertising by public companies and institutions in local media, pointing out that such data are not recorded in official registers and that institutions often failed to respond to calls for submission of such data.
On the other hand, they emphasised their readiness to upgrade the platform, especially in view of forthcoming new media laws that may also impose reporting obligations on print media regarding financial revenues and ownership structures, thus including them in the platform.
"The new platform on media ownership and financing sources can be quickly upgraded with new functionalities, as needed," Tomljenović concluded.
