(, where Free is an adjective) is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Split.

The first issue of was published on 17 June 1943 by Tito's Partisans in an abandoned stone barn on Mosor, a mountain near Split, while the city was occupied by the Italian army. The paper was later published in various locations until Split was liberated on 26 October 1944. From the following day onward, has been published in Split.

Slobodna Dalmacija

Although it was originally viewed as a strictly Dalmatian regional newspaper, during the following decades , grew into one of the largest and most widely read daily newspapers of Yugoslavia, with its circulation reaching a zenith in the late 1980s. owed much of that success to its humour section. Many of the most popular Croatian humourists, like Miljenko Smoje, Đermano Ćićo Senjanović and the trio that later founded the Feral Tribune, began their careers there.

Slobodna Dalmacija

Another reason for this success was the editorial policy of Joško Kulušić, who used the decline of Communism to allow the paper to become a forum for new political ideas. In the early 1990s established a reputation as the newspaper with the most politically diverse group of columnists - from the extreme left to the extreme right.

Slobodna Dalmacija

In 1992, the government initiated proceedings against the paper, which would ultimately result in one of the most notorious scandals in recent Croatian history. was privatised, which resulted in Miroslav Kutle, a Zagreb businessman, becoming the new owner. After a brief attempt to prevent the handover by strike, the paper was formally taken over in March 1993.

After the war ended in 1995, was faced with serious financial problems. In the late 1990s the newspaper was again taken over by the government. However, it retained its distinctively hard-line nationalist stance, even during the first year of Prime Minister Ivica Račan's left-of-center government.

In May 2005 was reprivatised again. This time it was sold to Europapress Holding, making it a sister paper of . In 2014 it was bought by Marijan Hanžeković along with EPH and became more of a right-wing newspaper. There have been situations where left oriented journalist were forbidden to write what they want (such as Damir Pilić in 2015) and some were fired (such as Boris Dežulović).

Editors-in-chief

1943–44: Šerif Šehović

1944–45: Neven Šegvić

1945–46: Petar Šegvić

1946–47: Antun Maštrović

1947–49: Božidar Novak

1949: Branko Karadžole

1949–51: Vladimir Pilepić

1951: Igor Radinović

1951–53: Igor Pršen

1955–57: Nikola Disopra

1957–65: Sibe Kvesić

1965–73: Hrvoje Baričić

1973–78: Marin Kuzmić

1982–83: Joško Franceschi

1983–93: Joško Kulušić

1993–94: Dino Mikulandra

1994–96: Josip Jović

1996–97: Krunoslav Kljaković

1997–98: Miroslav Ivić

1998–2000: Olga Ramljak

2000–01: Josip Jović

2001–05: Dražen Gudić

2005–08: Mladen Pleše

2008–10: Zoran Krželj

2010–14: Krunoslav Kljaković

2014–17: Ivo Bonković

2017–21: Jadran Kapor

2021–present: Sandra Lapenda-Lemo

References

External links

Croatian-language newspapers

Mass media in Split, Croatia

Daily newspapers published in Croatia

Newspapers established in 1943