Media Coverage of Different Scientific Disciplines in the Croatian Daily Press

Abstract

The goal of this research was to determine the changes in frequency and characteristics of media reporting of different scientific disciplines in the socio-historical context in which they arise. The research was conducted using the method of content analysis, which comprised Croatian daily newspapers with the highest readership in two time periods: ’socialism‘, from 1986 to 1988, and ’democracy‘, from 2006 to 2008. The constructed week method was used to select a total of 885 articles. The findings confirm the specificities in media communication of particular scientific disciplines in different socio-political contexts, as well as a tendency of levelling media practices in line with global trends, such as growing orientation towards medicalisation and socio-spatial domination of ’Western‘ news.