Mistakes of Nova TV

Judging by the flood of criticism, Nova TV executives made a greatest mistake possible by trying to raise their poor ratings with the controversial Ceca interview.

However, this was followed by even greater mistake. After great pressure from outside and within (if some reports about internal debates among Nova TV editorial staff are to believed), Nova TV decided not to air the interview. In its official communiqué Nova TV tried to put the all blame on Petar Vlahov, interviewer who allegedly "didn't ask the all necessary questions about war, Đinđić (Djindjic) assassination" etc. Vlahov, whose father is 1991-95 war veteran and whose grandparents were forced out of their home by Serb paramilitaries, was quite unhappy with the way he became Nova TV's sacrificial lamb and said that "he suddenly became aware that Croatians were refined, cultural people who prefer going to theatre to listening to turbo folk music".

So, after showing itself to be a network prepared to lower content standards, Nova TV presented itself as a network which bows to any kind of pressure.

However, this bowing to the pressure might be the point of the whole affair. Because, Ceca's interview is the most controversial content scheduled to appear on Nova TV, but it isn't the only one able to create controversy and bad blood among certain sections of Croatian society.

On Sunday Nova TV is going to start airing Laku noć, Hrvatska (Laku noc, Hrvatska), series of short cartoons spoofing Croatian public celebrities. The characters, drawn by Stevo Šinik (Stevo Sinik) a.k.a. Steve Cinik, are based on the likes of Severina Vučković (Severina Vuckovic), her former lover Milan Lučić (Milan Lucic), prime minister Ivo Sanader, RTL show host Renata Sopek etc. Judging by the way Steve Cinik used to cover the same material in right-wing tabloids, none of those people is going to be very happy about the way they are treated. And some of them are powerful enough to express their displeasure by pressing Nova TV, directly or indirectly. Brouhaha created around Ceca interview is undoubtedly going to help them in their efforts.