Are two of Croatia's most highly circulating daily newspapers, Večernji List and 24 SATA, owned by a Serbian media company, Adria Media Group? No, that's not true: The Croatian dailies are owned by the Austrian Styria Media Group.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on December 12, 2023, with a caption translated into English from Croatian by Lead Stories staff that reads:
Daily newspapers Večernji list and 24 Sata are 100% owned by Serbia's Adria Media Group.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Dec 19 13:02:54 2023 UTC)
Styria Media International GmbH has operated in Croatia since 2001 when it took over the ownership of the conservative-leaning newspaper Večernji List, founded in 1959. Since then, Styria has launched other media projects in Croatia including the daily tabloid 24 SATA in 2004. It is currently the sole shareholder of the two top-selling newspapers (archived here).
The false claim of Serbian ownership of these leading Croatian dailies appeared on the website narod.hr in a 2019 article (archived here) that reported the Austrian group Styria Media Group was partnering with the Adria Media Group from Serbia. Adria Media Group, which changed its name in 2023 to Wireless Media Group (WMG), has had a presence in the Croatian magazine market through co-ownership in Adria Media Zagreb's publishing house, publisher in Croatia of international magazines such as Story, Cosmopolitan, Elle, National Geographic, Sensa and others. However, there is no evidence that the Austrian group is linked to the Serbian group.
Following the break up of Yugoslavia and the war in Croatia from 1991 to 1995, Croatian ultranationalist messages spread the fear of cooperation with Serbia and the possibility of a reconstituted nation-state of Yugoslavia. The post falsely claiming that Serbia owns leading Croatian newspapers may be considered part of such a nationalist political agenda.
Serbian ownership of the leading Croatian daily newspapers promoted by Narod.hr continues to be recycled by online sites seen here (archived here) and in posts such as this one.
