The Vjesnik skyscraper, which burned in a fire last night, was once the centre of the most powerful newspaper publishing company in Southeast Europe. At the height of its success during the 1980s, the company employed almost 6,000 people and sold more than 200 million newspaper copies annually.
NIŠPRO Vjesnik (Newspaper Publishing, Printing and Distribution Work Organisation), headquartered in the tower on Zagreb’s Slavonska Avenue, achieved the status of the most successful media house in the former Yugoslavia. By the late 1980s it had surpassed Serbian publishing giants such as Borba and the powerful Belgrade-based Politika in circulation and influence.
Cornerstone for the tower laid in 1959
A symbol of Zagreb’s newspaper industry, the Vjesnik tower was conceived under the leadership of partisan general Đuro Kladarin, who became director of Vjesnik in 1953. He immediately began building a major publishing enterprise, recognising that Zagreb journalism, scattered across several editorial offices and lacking a modern printing facility, had no future.
The foundations of Vjesnik were laid with the acquisition of a new printing press, followed by the relocation of the printing plant and editorial offices to a new location. This was Kladarin’s project, which began to materialise with the laying of the cornerstone for the legendary tower in 1959, when smaller Zagreb publishing companies were merged into Vjesnik, new magazines such as Arena and Globus were launched, and the highly successful Večernji list became the flagship publication.
Designed by architect Antun Ulrich, the Vjesnik tower was fully equipped exclusively for newspaper publishing activities, and from 1972 it began receiving editorial teams. Circulation and influence of Croatian print media then grew across the former state and Europe. Vjesnik became the leading media house in Yugoslavia in 1984 when it printed and sold more copies than Politika.
Between 1985 and 1987, thanks to skilful management and carefully crafted editorial concepts, the company maintained its dominance in printed and sold circulation, levels that remain exceptional even by today’s European standards. For example, in 1985 more than 267 million newspaper copies were printed and over 223 million sold, meaning that on average 732,298 copies were printed and 611,599 sold every day.
Peak of prestige during the Universiade
Vjesnik maintained its leading status through 1986 and 1987, reaching a peak of prestige and influence during the Zagreb Universiade. The following year it narrowly lost the top position in sales to Politika across the former state, as declining circulation of magazine editions triggered a broader downward trend in daily newspaper sales. In 1988, “only” 195.6 million copies were sold, including 18.4 million exported abroad.
That same year marked a major turning point for Vjesnik, with rationalisation and a new technological revolution, computerisation, printing in Zagreb, Frankfurt and Osijek, and the relocation of editorial offices for leading dailies such as Večernji list, Vjesnik and Sportske novosti to the newly built Press Centre next to the tower. On 1 July 1988 the company was reorganised into NIŠPRO Vjesnik, with the aim of firmly confirming its status as the leading newspaper publisher in the former state.
At that time, NIŠPRO Vjesnik employed 5,942 journalists, graphic workers, vendors and other staff. It published the daily newspapers Vjesnik, Večernji list and Sportske novosti, along with weeklies, biweekly and monthly magazines such as Arena, Danas, Erotika, Izbor, Kviz, Sam svoj majstor, Sfinga, Sprint, Start, Studio, Svijet, Vikend, TOP, Trend and Mila, as well as numerous occasional editions, novels and comics. The company also printed books, school textbooks and more than 120 external publications, many with print runs of up to 30,000 copies.
In total, more than 243 million newspaper copies were printed in 1988, with over 195 million sold. More than 34,000 tonnes of paper were used, and Vjesnik’s distribution network included around 1,150 kiosks and outlets across Yugoslavia. After ambitious plans in 1988 came the historic year 1989 and the beginning of Yugoslavia’s breakup, which also marked the decline of the once unified publishing house through privatisation and restructuring.
EPH, now Hanza Media, left the complex in 2003, followed by Tisak. With the departure of Večernji list about fifteen years ago and the closure of Vjesnik in 2012, the last major newsroom left what had once been known as a “temple of journalism”.
Only the Vjesnik d.d. printing company remained as a major user of the space, which covered more than 30,000 square metres and was once valued at over €80 million. However, the printing company entered liquidation in 2022. The only remaining media-related tenant in the tower was the Laganini FM radio newsroom, which had to suspend broadcasting due to the fire.
The tower survived both fire and catastrophic flooding
Besides the recent fire, the Vjesnik tower had previously suffered heavy damage during the catastrophic Zagreb flood of 26 October 1964, when the editorial offices of Večernji list and Sportske novosti, parts of the printing equipment, the telephone exchange, sections of administration, the boiler room and paper storage facilities were completely destroyed. Floodwaters began entering the building around 3 a.m., when around 200 workers, journalists and staff were already present, struggling to prevent the water from engulfing the facility.
From the flood to the devastating fire, the Vjesnik tower remained a symbol of powerful Croatian newspaper publishing. Its significance was captured in what became a kind of epitaph written in 2000 by Đorđe Zelmanović, a legendary Vjesnik journalist and correspondent.
“People may think whatever they want about Vjesnik, but the Vjesnik house, alongside the Springer group, was one of the largest newspaper companies in Europe. Others may have been richer or paid higher salaries, but in terms of publishing scope, number of titles, printing capacity and overall scale, apart from Springer it would be hard to name anyone who could compare with Vjesnik,” Zelmanović said.