University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 12-2009 Croatian Public Television – Lost in Transformation Iveta Imre University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Imre, Iveta, "Croatian Public Television – Lost in Transformation. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2009. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/531 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Iveta Imre entitled "Croatian Public Television – Lost in Transformation." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Communication and Information. Norman Swan, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Barbara Moore, Margaret Morrison Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Iveta Imre entitled “Croatian Public Television – Lost in Transformation.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Communication and Information Norman Swan Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Barbara Moore Margaret Morrison Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges _______________________________ Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with the official student records) CROATIAN PUBLIC TELEVISION – LOST IN TRANSFORMATION A Thesis Presented for the Master of Science Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Iveta Imre December 2009 Copyright © 2009 by Iveta Imre All rights reserved. DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my husband and my family who have always been there for me, and provided me with encouragement. Thank you for all your love and support. This would not have been possible without you. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Sam Swan, who helped me develop an idea into a study, and who guided me throughout this research. I would also like to thank Dr. Barbara Moore and Dr. Margaret Morrison for their support during this study. Your guidance and advice are greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank Dr. Tena Perišin, Dr. Victoria Car and Lamija Alečković for helping me contact interviewees and providing me with necessary material to conduct the research in Croatia. I am grateful to all of the interviewees who took time and participated in this study. Finally, I would like to thank my brother for his support and help he provided me from Croatia. Without you, this study would not have been possible. ii ABSTRACT This study examined the influence of government, politicians and advertisers on the content of Croatian Public Television (HTV) news. This research examined whether HTV has remained state TV and under as strong government influence as it was in the former Yugoslavia? Or has it transformed into public TV, which has been the goal since Croatia gained independence in 1991? Or has it become commercial TV? The data were gathered through 10 semi-structured in-depth interviews with journalists and producers in the HTV news department and through a content analysis of HTV’s main newscast, Dnevnik. The major findings suggest there is still a lot of coverage of politics in Dnevnik, but not as much as in the past. The political influence has been stronger again in the last three years; however, self-censorship is a bigger problem at HTV today than actual censorship. The results indicate the big advertisers like the phone company Croatian Telecom or the gas company Ina influence the news programming at HTV, especially Dnevnik. The conclusion is that HTV today is state TV with commercial influences. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................................... 2 1.1.1 Media laws and regulation .......................................................................................................... 6 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .............................................................................................................. 9 1.3 DEFINITION OF TERMS..........................................................................................................................11 1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ..............................................................................................................12 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................................13 LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................................................................13 2.2 SUMMARY ...........................................................................................................................................18 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................................21 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................................21 3.1 IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS .........................................................................................................................22 3.2 PROGRAM CONTENT ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................24 CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................................29 FINDINGS ...................................................................................................................................................29 4.1 INTERVIEWS .........................................................................................................................................29 4.1.1. How has the definition of news changed over the years? ..........................................................29 4.1.2 How are news coverage and presentation decisions made? .......................................................31 4.1.3 How has politics influenced news programming? ......................................................................32 4.1.4 How free do you think HTV is to cover news? ............................................................................34 4.1.5 Has there been censorship in news? ...........................................................................................36 4.1.6 Does self-censorship exist among reporters? .............................................................................40 4.1.7 How has commercial advertising influenced news content? .......................................................42 4.1.8 Do you think HTV is a state TV, a commercial TV or a public TV? ...........................................43 4.1.9 Have new technologies affected the news? .................................................................................45 4.1.10 Has external training from western companies changed the news? .........................................46 4.1.11 Where do you see HTV news in the future? ..............................................................................47 4.2 KEY FINDINGS: IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS .................................................................................................48 4.3 CONTENT ANALYSIS OF DNEVNIK .......................................................................................................51 4.3.1 The number of analyzed stories...................................................................................................51 4.3.2 Governmental stories ..................................................................................................................52 4.3.3 Political Stories ...........................................................................................................................52 4.3.4 Social and commercial stories ....................................................................................................53 4.3.5 Video clips of politicians .............................................................................................................53 4.3.6 Sound bites from politicians ........................................................................................................54 4.3.7 The lead story ..............................................................................................................................55