The EBU Partnership Programme has sponsored an expert visit to Zagreb to advise HRT, the Union’s Croatian Member, on merging its production facilities.

Eurovision Media Director Annika Nyberg-Frankenhaeuser and Henrik Keith Hansen, a faculty member of the Eurovision ACADEMY, held discussions in the Croatian capital last week with recently-appointed HRT Director General Goran Radman and his senior staff.

The Partnership Programme initiated the visit following a regional meeting in Zagreb last December which launched a plan of activities co-financed by the European Union to strengthen public service media in EU accession countries. Croatia is due to join the EU on 1 July.

The visit by Ms Nyberg-Frankenhaeuser and Mr Hansen is in line with the EBU’s Integrated Media Production Strategies (IMPS) initiative to help Members to plan and implement integrated production facilities.

The IMPS project will assist the radical change process at HRT launched by Mr Radman soon after he took up his post late last year to integrate HRT’s media platforms in news. He asked the EBU experts to engage with HRT staff in discussions and presentations on media convergence and change management.

Before she took up her post at the EBU, Ms Nyberg-Frankenhaeuser led integration at Finnish broadcaster YLE, resulting in consolidated TV, radio and online services, first of the Swedish section and later of all programming. She said that a key objective of IMPS was to create “building blocks” that EBU Members can use in their own convergence projects.

Mr Hansen, formerly a news manager at Danish EBU Member DR during the broadcaster’s own media integration, explained to the HRT managers key lessons learned by EBU Members that have lived through the process. He stressed the need for structured change management and continuous communication with staff.

The audience of mostly HRT managers and directors also included the broadcaster’s 'Digital Lab Team', which was appointed to champion the change process. The team of journalists, engineers and training professionals will gather experiences, pass suggestions upwards to top HRT management and be a constant, intermediate presence throughout the integration process.  

Goran Radman explained: “The Digital Lab Team is an ‘evangelistic’ group dedicated to change and who were first exposed to digitization six years ago. We almost lost their enthusiasm and eagerness for it along the way. They are the chosen ones.”

Mr Radman's vision is shared by the team, one of whom said: “Change is possible, improvement is possible. There are very good examples of right and wrong ways of doing it.”

More on IMPS and on upcoming visits: here

More on the EBU Partnership Programme:  here