Index.hr

Index.hr is a Croatian tabloid online newspaper,[1][3] launched in December 2002 and based in Zagreb. It was founded by Matija Babić and was originally designed as a news aggregation website, providing news content from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Slovenia. The website quickly grew in popularity and over time, more original content was produced by its growing staff until it became a popular media outlet in its own right. It has been described as having a "reputation of an independent, liberal, and strongly opposition outlet" with a "strong liberal bias".[3]

Not to be confused with Index.hu.
Index.hr
Type of site
Online newspaper
Tabloid[1]
Available inCroatian
Created byMatija Babić
URLwww.index.hr
CommercialYes
RegistrationRequired for some services
Launched10 December 2002 (2002-12-10)[2]
Current statusOnline

The news site covers politics, business, sports, show business, and features columns covering everything from gossip to political commentary, self-credited for exposing many scandals which "changed Croatia".[2] According to Alexa Internet in 2010, Index.hr is one of the top sites in Croatia,[4] and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[5] As of 2018, it is the leading Croatian news website.[6][7] Despite its popularity however, it is among the least trusted Croatian news brands.[3]

Controversy

Severina Vučković's sex tape lawsuit and subsequent fallout

In 2004, Croatian singer Severina sued Index.hr for publishing explicit screenshots from a sex tape she had made. The part of the lawsuit dealing with copyright infringement was dismissed, but Index was ordered to pay the singer HRK100,000 as compensation for violation of privacy.[8]

In 2012, enforcement action was initiated against Index.hr for failing to pay the compensation which had grown to HRK200,000 with interest and court costs.[9]

In 2014, after ten years of court proceedings against Index.hr without compensation, Severina was granted the status of intellectual proprietor of Index's brand and logo through enforcement action,[10] though the court thereafter ruled that compensation could not be sought from the publisher's account.[11]

Slavko Linić's two dismissed lawsuits in 2014

In 2014, the then Minister of Finance, Slavko Linić, initiated two lawsuits against Index promocija d.o.o. (Index.hr publisher) and Index.hr for damages valued at HRK210,000,[12] which were dismissed at the Rijeka County Court for first instance proceedings.[13]

In 2016, Index.hr and its journalists received criticism and death threats after publishing a controversial article regarding the veneration of the remains of Croatian Catholic saint Leopold Mandić. The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) condemned both the words used by the site, which they described as "deeply insulting and disparaging" to believers, as well as the threats made against the newspaper.[14][15] The Croatian Journalists and Publicists association (HNiP) accused the Council for Electronic Media (VEM) of "unethical ideological bias" for not holding the publisher of Index.hr (Index promocija d.o.o.) responsible and its "contextual defense of insulting religion and the religious feelings of Croatian citizens of the Roman Catholic faith".[16] In 2017, five civil associations lost a first-instance court case against Index.hr in which they alleged that the text discriminated against Catholics. The judge accepted Index.hr's defense that believers were not the target and that the article was satirical criticism.[17]

Bankruptcy

In February 2014, after a long period of account blocking due to amassed debt, the Croatian finance agency Fina rejected the proposal for a pre-bankruptcy settlement of HRK2.4 million by the companies Index portal d.o.o. and Prva stanica d.o.o. related to the business of the brand, owned by Babić.[18][19] Later that same year Babić was also accused of using fictitious contracts with Vana Šalov Violić to sell his damaged company for around HRK2.8 million. In April 2015 he was sentenced to one year in prison at the Zagreb County Court after pleading guilty and settling with the prosecution. The one-year prison sentence was replaced by community service, and he was fined HRK300,000. According to the verdict, Babić and Šalov Violić had to pay about 1 million kuna to the state budget, and about HRK600,000 to the company they damaged.[20][21] In 2016, Sport Index d.o.o., another company related to Index.hr and Babić, was opening bankruptcy proceedings with an established debt of over HRK290,000.[20]

References
  1. Skender, Melisa (12 April 2005). "Matija Babić - tvorac prvog hrvatskog dnevnog tabloida" [Matija Babić - creator of the first Croatian daily tabloid]. Nacional (in Croatian). No. 491. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  2. "15 godina Indexa, tekstovi koji su mijenjali Hrvatsku". Index.hr (in Croatian). 4 December 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  3. Grbeša, Marijana; Volarević, Marija (2021). "Media in Croatia: from freedom fighters to tabloid avengers". Publizistik. Springer. 66 (3–4): 621–636. doi:10.1007/s11616-021-00683-y. S2CID 237478738. Index.hr is a tabloid-style news site that has a reputation of an independent, liberal, and strongly opposition outlet... The least trusted brands are two tabloid news sites with a strong ideological slant, Index.hr with a strong liberal bias and Dnevno.hr with a clear right-wing agenda.
  4. "Top Sites in Croatia". Alexa Internet. Archived from the original on 2011-09-02. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  5. "Top Sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina". Alexa Internet. Archived from the original on 2010-02-09. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  6. Peruško, Zrinjka (2018). "Croatia - Reuters Institute Digital News Report". digitalnewsreport.org. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  7. Peruško, Zrinjka (2022). "Croatia - Reuters Institute Digital News Report". digitalnewsreport.org. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  8. "Severina dobila parnicu protiv Index.hr-a". Slobodna Dalmacija (in Croatian). 2 May 2008. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  9. Jurasić, Dijana (15 April 2012). "Index pod ovrhom jer Severini nije platio 200.000 kuna". Večernji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  10. Panić, Velibor (6 January 2014). "Severina postala vlasnica imena Index.hr: Ovršila je logotip i žig portala". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  11. Jurasić, Dijana (25 March 2014). "Severina ipak ne može ovršiti žig portala Index.hr". Večernji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  12. Opačak-Klobučar, Tamara (27 March 2014). "Ni Linić ni Babić nisu se pojavili na sudu". Večernji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  13. "Linić izgubio spor protiv Indexa, nakladnik prenio točnu informaciju". Večernji list (in Croatian). 30 January 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  14. "HND osudio tekstove koji vrijeđaju osjećaje vjernika". Večernji list (in Croatian). 16 April 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  15. "HND osudio napade na Index.hr zbog tekstova o svetom Leopoldu Mandiću". Večernji list (in Croatian). 19 April 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  16. "HNiP upozorava na neetičnost: Index.hr nije kažnjen za neprimjeren tekst o dolasku tijela sv. Leopolda Mandića". Večernji list (in Croatian). 18 May 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  17. "Udruga U ime obitelji izgubila presudu protiv Indexa, najavljena žalba". Večernji list (in Croatian). 6 November 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  18. Nezirović, Vanja (6 February 2014). "Index.hr traži pokretanje predstečajne nagodbe: Dvije Babićeve tvrtke duguju 2,4 mil. kuna". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  19. "Pokreće se stečaj nad portalom Index.hr: Fina odbacila prijedlog za predstečajnu nagodbu". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). 28 February 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  20. "U stečaju još jedna tvrtka Matije Babića, osnivača portala Index". Tportal.hr (in Croatian). 14 January 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  21. Jakelić, Ivana (13 April 2015). "Matija Babić osuđen na rad za opće dobro". Večernji list (in Croatian). Retrieved 25 December 2022.
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