Milivoj Spika, head of the Bloc Pensioners Together party (BUZ), commented on the decision by the A1 service provider to take N1 off the air as of March 29.

His full statement is below:

With the appearance of N1, it is obvious that winds have changed in Croatian media space. As many things in Croatia are under someone’s control, it’s not surprising that people believe that media outlets are controlled by either the governments or some other, mainly political or business actors. Watching N1, it is not difficult to see that all relevant actors on Croatia’s political scene are given time to present their views and thoughts without any, let alone biased, intervention by reporters, or censorship of any kind.

N1 TV is precisely the kind of a news service that the public broadcaster – which we all finance – should be, but instead, the public broadcaster has for a long time now been serving exclusively the interests of those in power, and only the select few can get any air time on its channels. There are no made-up statements on N1, no second-hand interpretations of who said what, but instead real-time reporting which allows the viewers to see every individual on the country’s political scene fully, with all their flaws and qualities.

There is no space for playacting on N1, guests do not receive help from, (there are no) biased reporters who often try to create “great visionaries” from even the biggest political idiots. I cannot claim that the announced shutting down of N1 on the A1 provider is the result of political games in an attempt to eliminate practically the only free media outlet ahead of the local elections, but it’s difficult to get any other impression.

As BUZ has a contract with A1 and uses their service package of which N1 is part, the end of cooperation between A1 and N1 also means the end of cooperation between A1 and BUZ.

It would be good for A1 to think about this once more and walk back their decision while there is still time, especially if this is a politically motivated move, which is an impression that only grows stronger by the day.