Slobodna Dalmacija

Slobodna Dalmacija has a turbulent past. Founded in 1944, for many years it was one of Yugoslavia's leading dailies. This once influential paper's decline began after the Balkans war in the 1990s. In 1993 the controversial businessman Miroslav Kutle acquired a 37-percent share in the paper - without a call for tenders and for a dumping price. He then turned it into an ultra-nationalist mouthpiece for the state. Since 2005 it has belonged to Hanza Media, the country's largest media company. It has become a liberal newspaper but its influence is now limited to the Split region and its circulation is steadily declining.