Nenad Stazic of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP) said that Hina probably needed a new Steering Council and a new director-general, but stressed that new people would not be able to do anything for Hina unless the government changed its attitude towards the agency.
"I emphatically declare that the present director-general could do nothing given the attitude of the previous government towards Hina, but no other director or Steering Council would be able to do anything unless the government changed its attitude towards Hina. We can choose a new Steering Council and a new director-general, but they won't be able to do anything as long as they have to sell news services which others provide free of charge," Stazic said, adding that it was necessary to change the Hina Act.
"I personally think that time will come when the accuracy and reliability of news reporting will be appreciated, when people will be disgusted by tabloid journalism that has swamped the media and will demand back serious journalism. That's why Hina's fervor should be kept alive, because if destroyed it will be hard to rekindle it," Stazic said.
Stazic said that the Steering Council had tried to do something to overcome the financial crisis and that last year it had cut the loss from 3.9 million to 1.3 million kuna by reducing salaries and investment, which he said had upset relations between the Steering Council and the Staff Council, which had sued it for violating the Labour Act. "It can't be said that the Steering Council has done nothing at all. It tried to save a sinking ship, but with bad methods and again without the help of the government, left to its own devices," he added.
A decline in market revenues was mainly the result of major news publishers cancelling their subscription to Hina's services, Stazic said, adding that the government of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader had reduced VAT on the media to 10%, excluding Hina, which was left to pay the full VAT rate.
Suncana Glavak of the strongest opposition party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), said that her party would endorse the report of the Hina Steering Council, stressing that the HDZ was against the Hina director-general being relieved of her duties.
"Hina's existence must not be called into question, because agency reporting is not tabloid reporting," Glavak said, adding that Hina should be helped, but not by insisting on the dismissal of its Steering Council, which she said would be "a political purge".
Glavak noted that Hina's negative business performance was largely the result of the fact that its clients were not paying for Hina's services even though some of them were publishing its news reports and signing them as their own.
Goran Beus Richembergh of the ruling Croatian People's Party (HNS) said that 2012 would be the crucial year for Hina and that the agency required radical changes and reform.
The position of the majority was also backed by the ruling Istrian Democratic Party (IDS), whose MP Damir Kajin said that the government should immediately decide what to do with Hina, adding that reducing VAT for Hina would not be enough.