engleski

Croatian war veterans in print media in 1996 and in 2006

Introduction: The media have an important role in maintaining and creating social relations and social environment in war and post-war period. Media activities can form a part of prevention context, i.e., the media can facilitate the process of recovery from war trauma, but they can also contribute to stigmatization and retraumatization. Aim: To analyze Croatian newspaper reports about Croatian war veterans and to determine the differences in ways of dealing with the subject during 1996 and 2006. Methods: The data were gathered by reviewing two daily papers, Novi list and Večernji list, and one weekly paper, Globus. A total of 538 newspaper reports on the subject of Croatian war veterans published in the first six months of 1996 and 2006 were analyzed. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze both the form and the content of the reports. Results: The number of reports related to Croatian war veterans dropped by 6.5 percent in 2006 compared to the 1996. The 1996 articles mostly reported on anniversaries (37, 4%) while 2006 articles mostly focused on veterans’ dissatisfaction (17, 7%) with veterans' rights and legislations. Moreover, articles relating to suicides and attempts of suicide of war veterans increased from 2, 5% up to 17% in 2006. Conclusion: During the ten-year period, the media image of Croatian war veterans significantly changed, which was expected owing to different social circumstances. Prevalence of topics negative in tone and a lack of proactive stories reflect, but also create, a social context which can affect the process of traumatization recovery.

war veterans; print media; PTSD; social acceptance; stigma

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