''Latinica'' is a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

launched on November 11, 1993, which was broadcast on Mondays at 20:10

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast Ente ...

HRT 1 HRT 1 (HTV 1, ''"Prvi program"'') is the first Croatian television channel, operated by Hrvatska Radiotelevizija. It is a generalist channel, whose diverse programming lineup includes documentaries, history, school, mosaics, news, sitcoms, movies, ...

. Hosted by

Denis Latin Denis Latin (born 14 February 1966 in Šibenik) is a Croatian television host. He began to work on HRT in 1987 and two years later, in 1989, he graduated from Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. In 1990 he became the announcer of ''Dnevnik'' ...

, it discussed current events with guest experts and also contained five outside reports showing the actual cases connected with current discussion. Its title, besides being derived from the host Latin's surname, literally means "

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...

" in Croatian. ''Latinica'' was the longest-running weekly talk show in Croatian television, with more than 350 broadcasts. The show was canceled on January 13, 2011, and the final show was broadcast on January 17, 2011.

Overview

''Latinica'' started on HRT, but was briefly shown on

Mreža Mreža ("net" in Croatian) was the first private Croatian television network. It was founded in 1997. From its Zagreb studios, it produced original programs that were later aired on various local and regional stations. The arrival of Mreža was q ...

, the first private Croatian TV network, in 1997 and 1998, owned by

Miroslav Kutle Miroslav Kutle (born October 6, 1957) is a Bosnian Croat entrepreneur. He became notorious for his involvement in the Croatian privatization controversy and has since been sentenced to jail time for embezzlement on two occasions. Education Kutle ...

and other businessmen close to the government. In late 2005, it was speculated that the show would be transferred to another private network, Nova TV. In 2005, Latinica became the subject of controversy when the show dealt with the legacy of

Franjo Tuđman Franjo Tuđman (; 14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999), also written as Franjo Tudjman, was a Croatian politician and historian. Following the country's independence from Yugoslavia, he became the first president of Croatia and served as p ...

. The treatment of the late president provoked a debate in the parliament and was criticised by his followers, most notably Andrija Hebrang and other high-ranking members of the ruling

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croa ...

party. Hebrang went as far as to accuse the show of causing the death of a Patriotic War veteran who committed suicide after allegedly being upset with the show's contents in this episode.Novinarima Latinice prijeti se smrću
When the veteran's daughter, a young HRT reporter, disputed the story, Hebrang attributed that to HRT management pressure and tried to use this as an argument for Parliament's (and his party's) tighter controls of the media. Latin, vilified by right-wing sections of the Croatian public, had to endure several weeks without his show on the air, with his sacking seen as a done deal, but HRT leadership in the end decided to keep ''Latinica'' on the air.

References

{{reflist 1990s Croatian television series 2000s Croatian television series 1993 Croatian television series debuts 2011 Croatian television series endings Croatian television talk shows Croatian Radiotelevision original programming