Starting his career in the mid-1970s, Ninoslav Pavic has been one of the leading publishers, media executives, and journalists in Croatia. He rose through the ranks of high school newspapers to become the editor-in-chief of Student Paper, an influential college outlet. After getting sacked by political authorities, he briefly joined the reporting staff of the best-selling daily paper in Croatia, only to return to college journalism in 1976.
As editor-in-chief, Pavic took over the weekly newspaper Polet, which soon became an enduring symbol of freedom, new urban culture, and modernity in tough times of rigid socialism, as well as a hub for future industry leaders and well-known editors, reporters, and photojournalists. He was removed for political reasons after three years and forced to do military service in the Yugoslavian Army.
During the 1980s, Pavic worked as a journalist, commentator, and editor in numerous newsrooms of Vjesnik, then the leading publishing house in Yugoslavia. In the early 1990s, when private enterprise became legal, Pavic and a group of journalists started Globus, the first privately-owned professional political weekly newspaper in Croatia. It achieved tremendous success and extremely high circulation, becoming the most influential political weekly for decades to come. The success of Globus allowed Pavic to build a publishing powerhouse, through launches of new titles, acquisitions, and licensed editions of global brands such as Forbes, Cosmopolitan, Playboy and Grazia.
The culmination came in 1998 when the company launched Jutarnji list, the first private daily newspaper in modern Croatia, which achieved immediate commercial success. Before Jutarnji, there had been no new daily newspapers for more than 40 years, and Jutarnji soon became a beacon of democracy, liberalism, and pluralism in post-war Croatia. Its independent reporting brought about many changes in society that were still grappling with the transition to democracy and a free market.
Pavic had consolidated all media operations in the company Eupapress Holding (EPH), which was soon publishing three daily newspapers, more than 30 weekly and monthly titles, and 10 websites, reaching almost the entire adult population of Croatia. For 25 years, Pavic led EPH as publisher, president, and co-owner of the company, as it became the largest publisher on the market.
EPH also launched a successful book-publishing business, selling more than 9 million books in 3 years, and it also started a successful media operation in Serbia: under Pavic’s leadership, it was publishing five market-leading weekly and monthly titles. EPH also became one of the digital leaders in Croatia, moving beyond news publishing to start e-commerce and digital service initiatives in areas such as insurance, health, tourism, and books.
In 2015, Pavic launched a digital media startup Telegram Media Grupa (TMG). It soon became one of the leading digital publishers on the market, reaching more than 1.6 million users in Croatia with its quality websites, winning national and international awards for its investigative reporting and editorial projects. Today he is the President of the Supervisory Board of Telegram, providing oversight and support to the management in publishing strategy and daily operations.