'VJESNIK' DAILY'S EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RELIEVED OF DUTY

ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - The board of supervisors of press publisher Vjesnik Ltd. on Tuesday relieved of duty the editor-in-chief of the daily Vjesnik, Igor Mandic, appointing to his post the former editor of the foreign affairs department, Zlatko Herljevic. Herljevic will hold the new post until the expiry of a tender for the new Vjesnik editor-in-chief, said Hrvoje Dusper, chairman of the board. The tender will be opened on Oct. 24. "Igor Mandic initiated a new publishing structure for Vjesnik, but failed to improve business owing to a lack of managerial skills," Dusper said after today's session of the supervisory board. The acting editor-in-chief is not expected to effect any changes in the transitional period, only to ensure undisturbed publishing. Dusper said the issue of Vjesnik's poor business and amassed losses should be tackled by a team of the new editor-in-chief, which should come forward with a new publishing policy and improve business. Dusper believes it is high time that Vjesnik raise its circulation from the current 10,000 to 30,000 copies. He said it had to be done by the end of next year, with the first steps forward expected within two months at the latest after the new editor-in-chief was appointed. Another objective the supervisory board has set itself is to privatise Vjesnik through recapitalisation, which should solve three issues: returning loans, securing funds for active business and means which should fortify the company, said Dusper. The president of Vjesnik's trade union commission, Mladen Jambrovic, said the union was not happy with Herljevic because he already worked with all previous editor-in-chief colleges without initiating any changes. (hina) ha jn