Scholarly record

THE EDITORIAL POLICIES OF LOCAL NEWSPAPERS ON CULTURE DURING THE CROATIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

Vesna Kalajzic

Abstract

The research corpus consists of newspapers that were in circulation in the first decade of democratic changes in the republic of Croatia, from 1990 to 2000. In this corpus I have included the newspapers defined as such by the current Media Act of the Republic of Croatia. By this criterion, the following newspapers were published in Zadar at the time: Narodni list (a weekly), Zadarski list (a weekly/daily), Zadarski tjednik (a weekly), Fokus (a monthly) and Zadarski Regional (a weekly). The research covered a total of 1,451 issues of newspapers, which produced 532 articles headlined on the cover page. The method of quantitative and qualitative content analysis was applied in writing the paper. The research showed that the editorial policy was oriented towards reporting on and analysis of current affairs and the work of cultural institutions and their employees. During wartime the journalists attached great importance to culture and condemned the aggressors’ attack on Zadar’s cultural and historical heritage. They wrote critically about those employed in the field of culture, current affairs, and culture-related issues in the city of Zadar. “Scandals” and “affairs” in the area of culture were headlined on front pages. The dominant journalistic genre in the articles is the interview, the aim of which is to familiarise the public with the professional and personal life of people active in the field of culture.

Publication details

Back to publication list