''Slobodna Dalmacija'' () 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 ...
n daily
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
published in
Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, entertai ...
.
The first issue of ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' was published on 17 June 1943 by Tito's
Partisans in an abandoned stone barn
on
Mosor
Mosor ( la, Massarus), or Mount Mosor (''Massarus Mons''; it, Monte Massaro), is a mountain range in Croatia located near the city of Split on the Adriatic coast. It belongs to Dinaric Alps, and it stretches from the pass of Klis in the northwe ...
, a mountain near Split, while the city was occupied by the Italian army. The paper was later published in various locations until Split was liberated on 26 October 1944. From the following day onward, ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' has been published in Split.
Although it was originally viewed as a strictly Dalmatian regional newspaper, during the following decades ''Slobodna Dalmacija'', grew into one of the largest and most widely read daily newspapers of Yugoslavia, with its circulation reaching a zenith in the late 1980s. ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' owed much of that success to its
humour
Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...
section. Many of the most popular Croatian humourists, like
Miljenko Smoje
Miljenko Smoje (14 February 1923 – 25 October 1995) was a Croatian writer and journalist.
Smoje was born in Split, at the time in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in a family of poor labourers. The neighbourhood where he grew up was known for its s ...
,
Đermano Ćićo Senjanović and the trio that later founded the ''
Feral Tribune
''Feral Tribune'' was a Croatian political weekly magazine. Based in Split, it first started as a political satire supplement in '' Nedjeljna Dalmacija'' (the Sunday edition of the ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' daily newspaper) before evolving into an in ...
'', began their careers there.
Another reason for this success was the editorial policy of
Joško Kulušić Joško is a Croatian masculine given name that may refer to the following notable people:
* Joško Battestin (1918–2020), Slovene electrical engineer, inventor and author
* Joško Bilić (born 1974), Croatian football player
* Joško Čagalj Jole ...
, who used the decline of Communism to allow the paper to become a forum for new political ideas. In the early 1990s ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' established a reputation as the newspaper with the most politically diverse group of columnists - from the extreme left to the extreme right.
In 1992, the government initiated proceedings against the paper, which would ultimately result in one of the most notorious scandals in recent Croatian history. ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' was privatised, which resulted in Miroslav Kutle, a Zagreb businessman, becoming the new owner. After a brief attempt to prevent the handover by strike, the paper was formally taken over in March 1993.
After the war ended in 1995, ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' was faced with serious financial problems. In the late 1990s the newspaper was again taken over by the government. However, it retained its distinctively hard-line nationalist stance, even during the first year of Prime Minister
Ivica Račan's left-of-center government.
In May 2005 ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' was reprivatised again. This time it was sold to
Europapress Holding
Hanza Media (until July 1, 2016: Europapress Holding, or EPH) is the leading media company in Croatia and Southeast Europe, with 5 daily newspapers, more than 20 magazines, and 20 digital editions.
Hanza Media's consumer magazines are aimed at t ...
, making it a sister paper of ''
Jutarnji list''. In 2014 it was bought by Marijan Hanžeković along with EPH and became more of a right-wing newspaper. There have been situations where left oriented journalist were forbidden to write what they want (such as Damir Pilić in 2015) and some were fired (such as
Boris Dežulović
Boris Dežulović (born 20 November 1964) is a Croatian journalist, writer and columnist, best known as one of the founders of the now defunct satirical magazine ''Feral Tribune''.
Biography
Dežulović studied art history at the University of S ...
).
Editors-in-chief
*1943–44: Šerif Šehović
*1944–45: Neven Šegvić
*1945–46: Petar Šegvić
*1946–47: Antun Maštrović
*1947–49: Božidar Novak
*1949: Branko Karadžole
*1949–51: Vladimir Pilepić
*1951: Igor Radinović
*1951–53: Igor Pršen
*1955–57: Nikola Disopra
*1957–65: Sibe Kvesić
*1965–73: Hrvoje Baričić
*1973–78: Marin Kuzmić
*1982–83: Joško Franceschi
*1983–93: Joško Kulušić
*1993–94: Dino Mikulandra
*1994–96: Josip Jović
*1996–97: Krunoslav Kljaković
*1997–98: Miroslav Ivić
*1998–2000: Olga Ramljak
*2000–01: Josip Jović
*2001–05: Dražen Gudić
*2005–08: Mladen Pleše
*2008–10: Zoran Krželj
*2010–14: Krunoslav Kljaković
*2014–17: Ivo Bonković
*2017–21: Jadran Kapor
*2021–present: Sandra Lapenda-Lemo
References
External links
*
{{Europapress Holding , state=autocollapse
Croatian-language newspapers
Mass media in Split, Croatia
Daily newspapers published in Croatia
Publications established in 1943