MSCP Article summary

Anh Hoang- MSCP Article Summary




Rediscovering the Mediterranean Characteristcs of the Croatan Media
System (Perusko)


1. The historical/political background of Croatia

 Authoritarian model of governance until 1990s, brief periods of democracy and
fascism (a form of radical authoritarian nationalism, characterized by dictatorial
power, forcible suppression of opposition and control of industry and commerce) in
between

 Democratic consolidation after 2000

 Croatia is today a consolidated post-communist democracy, ethnically homogeneous,
with a consensus between the elites and citizens.

 Yet: Polarized historical legacy

 Democracy in Croatia is (generally) majoritarian
o The winning party concentrates political power, the executive government
dominate the parliament
 The Croatian political system and society at large is rife with clientelism

2. The media market

 Late 18th Century: first newspapers

 Lack of middle class  lack of mass press
 The tabloid format was not prevalent in the Croatian press
 Croatian intelligentsia poets and writers who invariably became politicians

 After 1990: public service broadcaster in downward trend; smaller print runs for mass
press

 TV as the only true mass media

 Fit with Mediterranean Model: weak media regulatory bodies weakening of public
interest

3. Political parallelism

 The higher media concentrationthe higher parallelism of media owners and the
state

 ex: journalists becoming politicians




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, Anh Hoang- MSCP Article Summary


 Left / Right divide between readers of two main dailies
 Catholic Church retains ownership in media (only corporate element in Croatian
media system)
o The Catholic Church owns one religious paper and a national radio station,
and through its ownership of the Austrian Styria is also the owner of one of
the three largest circulation dailies, Večernji litt.
 PP showed in media content during communism and during the transition decade

 The regulatory system for the mass media aims at promoting internal as well as
external pluralism

 Croatia has in the past twenty years tried everything except the professional model.

 The present model is a combination of the (multiparty) parliamentary and corporative
models incorporating representatives of civil society organizations

 As Croatia has no history of corporate organization, there are no social groups to be
truly represented  members of the councils and other media regulatory bodies only
truly represent the political parties that nominated them

4. Journalistic professionalization

 Croatian regulatory system:
o Protects freedom of expression, independence and autonomy and access to
information
o Wide range types of media
 Journalists are unsatisfied with their autonomy: economic insecurity, influence of
major advertisers

 No consequences for those who break journalist codes of conduct

 Legal framework takes place of self-regulation

 New/Social media pose new challenges
o Allow greater autonomy and creative space outside the influence of corporate
or government interest
o But seen as disorganized and filled with hate speech and intolerance

5. The role of the state

 Croatia regulates all aspects of the media

o Assumes the role of a patron  distributive and redistributive roles in the
media market through direct subventions to minority media (co-financing,
license fees, promotion of pluralism, special support for local and regional
program)




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