The trade unions and professional organizations of HRT have sent an open letter to the Director-General of HRT, the Media Committee, and the Ministry of Culture and Media expressing their concern about the lack of transparency regarding the Plan for the Consolidation of Work and Business Operations of HRT. They are requesting answers from decision-makers to key questions. We present the letter in full.
Dear Sir/Madam,
As employees of HRT and representatives of trade unions and professional organizations, we address the decision-makers, as well as the citizens to whom HRT must serve, with deep concern and a demand for full transparency regarding the Plan for the Consolidation of Work and Business Operations of HRT. The citizens are the only true “owners” of the public media service.
With this letter, we want to draw attention to the fact that, despite the significance of the public media service for democracy, pluralism, and the right to truthful information, the aforementioned document — which is key for the future of HRT — has not yet been made publicly available. This seriously worries us, especially considering these are issues of exceptional social importance.
From the explanation of the consolidation conclusions, only some general statements are visible, such as: “The return of HRT’s relevance, both among the general public and young people. This goal aims to be achieved through quality, creative, innovative, modern, and useful programs tailored to citizens, using all available media channels and platforms” — which quite literally could have been written by the ChatGPT program.
Communication about the plans for HRT has been vague, inaccurate, and unfinished for months. Numbers and “visions” are being released to the public, which mostly contain comparisons with unidentified European public media services, where the comparisons focus solely on the number of employees. Such comparisons are not only unclear but also extremely unfair, since it is not specified with which institutions HRT is being compared. As experts who know well the working systems, technology, salaries, program structures, finances, and the quality of independent production in other media services, we believe that such comparisons serve only as arguments for restructuring aimed solely at reducing the number of employees, without a real analysis of the actual needs and problems. We witness this every day when we face information and announcements that the Employer, after workers leave with severance pay, offers employees to continue as freelancers on the same work tasks. Despite the fact that the Decision on the conditions and amount of severance pay clearly states that severance pay can only be given to workers who do not need to be replaced by hiring another worker outside HRT.
It is important to emphasize that we are also concerned by the fact that none of the published documents show what the actual vision or idea is of how HRT should look in the future, nor how it will ensure fulfilling its basic tasks. Although it is clear that strengthening the independent and professional work of public media services is foreseen by the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), the plans presented so far do not show that decision-makers have an idea of the importance of an independent, professional HRT program, strengthening free journalism and programming that serves the public interest rather than the political interests of those who make decisions. This vision is completely missing and is crucial for the survival of the public media service. There is also no answer to the question of how, after the Plan’s implementation, compliance with the Contract with the Government of the Republic of Croatia, valid until December 31, 2027, will be ensured and how all tasks and legal obligations of HRT will be fulfilled.
In light of the above, we ask that you — as relevant stakeholders and citizens — provide us access to the full document and answer the following questions:
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What are the key conclusions of the Plan for the Consolidation of Work and Business Operations of HRT?
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How does the Plan consider the purpose of HRT as a public media service in terms of building trust, relevance, and fulfilling its mission to citizens — not just internal or political priorities?
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How is employee surplus determined in the Plan? In which sectors has surplus been identified, and what exact criteria were used in preparing the Plan?
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What concrete procedures will be used to resolve the identified employee surplus?
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What strategic shortcomings, based on analysis of the current situation, does the Plan highlight?
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What specific solutions for the identified shortcomings does the Plan propose?
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What is the timeline for implementing the Plan — is it divided into phases, are there defined deadlines for achieving specific goals, and when does implementation begin and end?
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If the Plan is implemented, what concrete benefits can citizens expect, and what can the remaining HRT employees expect? How will these changes be measurably monitored and publicly reported transparently?
We hereby insist on full transparency, open discussion, and active inclusion of all stakeholders in the process of shaping the future of HRT — from employees, unions, and professional organizations to the wider public. We believe that the entire consolidation process must be carried out with open dialogue, taking into account the opinions of experts and all those who contribute through their work and commitment to shaping the quality and independence of our public media service.
We thank you in advance for your response and cooperation in strengthening transparency and democratic principles in the work of Croatian Radiotelevision.
Sincerely,
HRT Technical Union, HURS
Trade Union of Croatian Journalists’, branch at HRT-a
Independent Trade Union of HRT Workers
CJA Branch at HTV
CJA Branch at HR