ZAGREB, January 27, 2018 – The Hrvatska Riječ newspaper publisher, the only professional media organisation of the Croatian minority in Serbia, on Friday celebrated 15 years since the publication of its eponymous Croatian-language weekly.
The weekly, whose title translates as Croatian Word, covers all important political, cultural and social events relating to the Croatian community in Serbia, editor Jasminka Dulić said at a ceremony in the northern city of Subotica.
Director Ivan Usumović said that the organisation receives regular monthly subsidies from the Vojvodina provincial budget and has good relations with government institutions. He noted that the biggest problem is a shortage of staff because of the government ban on public-sector employment.
The provincial deputy secretary for information, culture and relations with religious communities, Nebojša Kuzmanović said that this department had been financially supporting for years the work of Hrvatska Riječ and other media of minority groups in Vojvodina province and was not planning to reduce or otherwise limit its support.
Among those attending were Tomislav Žigmanov, the first chairman of the organisation’s management board, representatives of Croatia’s Office for Croats Abroad, the Croatian consul-general to Subotica, the president of the Croatian National Council, and officials from relevant provincial government departments.
The first issue of Hrvatska Riječ was published on January 31, 2003. The weekly is issued in 1,500 copies distributed across Vojvodina and abroad. It currently employs 17 people and about 100 external contributors.
