A return to Split for Dalmatia’s biggest newspaper.
The offices of the Slobodna Dalmacija daily newspaper will soon return to Split. It is expected that on Monday works will begin on the reconstruction of the old Slobodna Dalmacija headquarters at the Hrvatske Mornarice Street. The reconstruction works should last for about a hundred days, and then the editorial staff will return to the old address after seven years of “exile” in Dugopolje, a suburb about 15 kilometres from Split. Employees of Slobodna Dalmacija are more than pleased to return to the city centre. There is no doubt that life will now be easier for everyone, including journalists and editors, who until now had to travel every day from Split to Dugopolje, reports Index.hr on January 7, 2016.
The newsroom was moved to Dugopolje in 2008, three years after the government of then Prime Minister Ivo Sanader approved the privatization of the daily. At that time, the director of human resources and legal matters of Slobodna Dalmacija was Ranko Ostojić, who is now the outgoing Interior Minister. At the beginning of his term of office, a small scandal broke when it was discovered that he lived in an apartment owned by EPH, Slobodna Dalmacija’s parent company.
Many of those who were openly opposed to the relocation now say that Dugopolje has always been just a temporary solution. At the old address, about two thousand square metres of office space will be renovated, which is just one sixth of the space at the disposal to Slobodna Dalmacija. The rest will wait for the amendments to city urban planning documents, since there are plans to build a residential and business centre at that location. The printing plant will remain in Dugopolje, while the floor which housed the editorial offices will be rented out. It is planned that business activities there will be expanded so the office space in Dugopolje will not remain empty for long.
The return of Slobodna Dalmacija to Split has been advocated by Split Mayor Ivo Baldasar as well. “It would be great if Slobodna would return to Split. In Dugopolje they are like little orphans, and Slobodna is primarily the newspaper of the city of Split”, Baldasar said at the time. Slobodna Dalmacija is the major newspaper in Dalmatia and has been published regularly since 1943.
