EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF SLOBODNA DALMACIJA DAILY REPLACED

SPLIT, May 2 (Hina) - The chairman of the board of the Split-based Slobodna Dalmacija media company, Srdjan Kovacic, on Wednesday replaced the editor-in-chief of Slobodna Dalmacija daily, Josip Jovic, appointing as acting editor-in-chief Drazen Gudic, former assistant editor-in-chief of Nedjeljna Dalmacija weekly. A new Slobodna daily editor-in-chief will be appointed by a journalists' meeting scheduled for next week. The editor-in-chief of the Nedjeljna Dalmacija weekly, Krunoslav Kljakovic, tendered his resignation today. Jovic says in Wednesday's Slobodna Dalmacija editorial that the main reason for the personnel changes is the intention of the ruling party to "silence the only independent, opposition newspaper in Croatia." According to Jovic, many readers saw Slobodna Dalmacija under his leadership as a "lighthouse of freedom" whose suppression will continue the processes of "detudjmanisation and decroatisation" and restore police personnel from the ex-Yugoslav federation to the most responsible offices in the state. The late Franjo Tudjman was the first Croatian head of state. A committee for the salvation of Slobodna Dalmacija was set up in Split a few days ago at an initiative of the National Headquarters for the Protection of the Dignity of the Homeland Defence War. The committee has threatened to stage demonstrations unless Jovic and the daily's director, Miroslav Ilic, retained their positions. Representatives of the ruling six-party coalition have welcomed the recent changes in the newspaper, in which the government holds the majority interest. They have pointed to the need of financially consolidating the daily and denied that political parties intend to influence the editorial policy. This has been confirmed by President Stipe Mesic who also said the daily's editorial policy had had a "fascist slant." (hina) ha sb