Journalist 1979

Vlado Kovač Rade Šerbedžija is a journalist at a Zagreb daily newspaper. One morning, in a drunken outburst, he attacks a newsstand and throws the newspapers to the ground. This incident triggers a tense meeting of the journalists’ communist organization, where Kovač’s case becomes the focal point of a broader debate about control and freedom in reporting. The root cause of his revolt is his sense that journalistic freedom is narrowing at the paper: the article about the workers’ strike at the Mikros tools factory was halted by Mirko, the editor Tonko Lonza. In the same session, Kovač is sharply confronted by Tomac Stevo Žigon and is defended by Nada Vera Zima, a colleague who recognizes the importance of his reporting and its costs.

Things take a turn for the worse for Kovač when Tomac becomes the new editor. He respects Kovač as a highly capable journalist and tries to win him over, but Kovač remains steadfast in his principles. Kovač’s wife Milena Zupančič criticizes him for vanity and alcohol abuse, leaves him, and files for divorce, highlighting the personal toll of his professional battles. There is a shift in the Mikros strike when the Party decides to side with the workers, and Tomac now offers Kovač a chance to craft an article mirroring the originally censored piece, which Kovač refuses, choosing integrity over conformity.

Kovač then befriends Kos Fabijan Šovagović, an aging journalist whose life mirrors his own: highly educated, devoted to his craft, yet gradually worn down by disillusion and alcoholism. When Kos dies from an alcohol overdose, Kovač writes his obituary — only to find it heavily censored in the newspaper the next day, a stark reminder of how perception and memory can be controlled by editors and authorities alike.