Social Impact
Television in Croatia, as all other media in the country are criticised for lack of balance of global issues and trends on one hand and national topics covered on the other. All major television networks in Croatia are generally thought to be under excessive influence of commercialism. This is viewed through international ownership structures of the privately owned television broadcasters having little regard for promotion of national culture and social issues, as well as through efforts of the state-run HRT to attract advertisers through programming that is thought to appeal to the viewers the best in spite of regulation of programming content and restricted advertising at the HRT. The HRT is limited by a special legislation regulating that broadcaster to four minutes of advertising in prime time period between 6 and 10 in the evening. On the other hand, the HRT receives income from a fee charged to owners of television sets in Croatia in the amount of 1.5% of average monthly net wage in Croatia. In 2012, the fee charged is 80 kunas (c. 10.60 Euros). In 2010, annual income of the HRT generated by the fee amounted to 1.2 billion kunas (c. 160 million Euros).
Even though social impact of television in Croatia is considered to be imperfect and that of variable quality, television is important in the society because it offers a way for non-governmental organizations to communicate their concerns to the public and to criticise the government and other aspects of politics of Croatia. Television is the most widespread source of information in Croatia—on average 57% of the population of Croatia uses television as their primary source of information. That percentage varies significantly by geographic region—from 43% in Zagreb and areas surrounding the capital to 79% in Slavonia—but in every region it surpasses all other sources of information, the second most widely used source of information being the Internet averaging at 19%. There are 1.584 million registered television sets in the country.
| Geographic region | Population percentage |
|---|---|
| Slavonia | 79% |
| Lika, Kordun, Banovina | 63% |
| Northern Croatia | 61% |
| Northern Croatian Littoral | 59% |
| Dalmatia | 47% |
| Zagreb and surrounding areas | 43% |
| Average | 57% |
Read more about this topic: Television In Croatia
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