Večernji list
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Večernji list | |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Berliner |
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| Owner | Styria AG |
| Editor | Miljenko Manjkas |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Political allegiance | Right-wing |
| Headquarters | Zagreb |
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| Website: www.vecernji-list.hr | |
Večernji list is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb.
The newspaper (whose title means "Evening Newspaper" in English) was started in the 1950s. The idea was to have a modern newspaper, unburdened with politics and dedicated to more mundane subjects like sports, fashion, crime and everyday life. Because of that, Večernji list quickly became the most circulated newspaper in Croatia, being affectionately called Večernjak by its readers. However, it also gained a reputation for not raising waves and always pushing the government line, earning it another nickname - Bezgrešnjak (Without sins) - by journalists more critical of the status quo.
Večernji list remained true to this reputation after the 1990 election. Even so, Franjo Tuđman and his ruling Croatian Democratic Union expressed great interest in taking even more direct control over the newspaper through privatisation. Ivić Pašalić, one of Tudjman's most trusted advisors took part in that process. However, although the process wasn't particularly transparent, no actual criminal wrongdoings were discovered in subsequent inquires, despite a concerted campaign of Nacional weekly to prove otherwise.
More damaging for Večernji list was the start of Jutarnji list, a rival daily newspaper, in April 1998. Večernji list lost the top position in the Croatian media market.
In early 2000s the newspaper, officially owned by a Virgin Islands financial group, was sold to Styria AG, an Austria-based media group. Under new management, the newspaper began to win back its readership, especially when it took a more critical approach towards the government. This approach intensified when Ivo Sanader became the country's prime minister. That, combined with the appointment of Miljenko Manjkas, an old Tuđman cadre, for editor-in-chief, and especially some non-objective anticommunist texts, led many to speculate that Ivić Pašalić, Sanader's archrival, might indeed be behind the newspaper. According to an article in Jutarnji list, Sanader recently threatened Styria AG's management with an investigation of privatisation and subsequent sales unless the newspaper's editorial policy was changed.
