Collina: Decision Making in Football is the Same as in Business

The first day of the regional gathering of the media and communication industry, the Weekend Media Festival, which is being held for the third time in Rovinj, concluded with a lecture by the world’s most famous football referee, Pierluigi Collina.

The Italian economist linked decision-making in football matches to decision-making in any area of life in his lecture. – The connection between a football referee and any decision-maker is the speed of decision-making, the pressure that accompanies the decision-making process, and its subsequent review – said Collina. The one who makes the decision must be an excellent communicator and leader. For the message to be better received, it must be well communicated and understood by everyone, while at the same time, it is essential to take responsibility and have a good understanding of oneself – one’s strengths and weaknesses. The key to decision-making is good preparation and adherence to rules, as well as understanding that changes are necessary, Collina explained.

A place was also sought at the panel discussion 30 years later, which included Vedran Matić, editor-in-chief of B92, Ninoslav Pavić, president of EPH, and Franci Zavrl, partner at Pristop, along with moderator Srđan Šaper from McCannGrupe Serbia. The topic of the discussion, among other things, was who are the people today who have a social role similar to those who created independent newspapers in the 80s and what the situation is on the media market 30 years later. The discussion also touched on issues of media freedom, profit generation, choice of communication channels, and information dissemination, concluding with the thesis that the survival of ‘real’ journalism primarily depends on the extent to which the recession will bring out the best quality from editors, journalists, and publishers who, after all, did not enter the media business 30 years ago, nor do they today, with the idea of quick, easy, and large profits. A similar direction was taken by the panel discussion featuring Đurđica Klancir, deputy editor-in-chief of T-portal, Iva Gačić, editor of the news program at Nova TV, Ivan Lovreček, program director of RTL Televizija, Alen Galović, editor at 24 sata, Mladen Pleše, editor-in-chief of Jutarnji list, Josip Bohutinski, journalist at Business.hr, Milan Ivkošić, columnist at Večernji list, and Goran Mihajlovski, editor-in-chief of the magazine Vest.

They discussed whether real journalism has truly died, and the discussion culminated in Lovreček’s calling out moderator Hloverka Novak Srzić, whom he declared an accomplice in the degradation of journalism, prompted by the show Otvoreno in which she sat on Minister Šuker’s lap. The first day of the gathering opened with a topic about sports in the region, which also included Pete Radovich, creative sports director of American television CBS, who placed regional issues such as the unrecognition of the tourism potential of sports in an American context. The discussion concluded that sports in the region are in a chaotic state and that the economic crisis has brought some positive aspects – quality is gaining weight, and the market is developing. Over the two days of this year’s Weekend, held in the old TDR factory, around twenty lectures and panel discussions will take place, featuring 120 experts from media and communications. This year’s festival has set records, gathering nearly two thousand participants. (S.B., B.B.)