Framing of the President: Newspaper Coverage of Milan Bandić and Ivo Josipović in the Presidential Elections in Croatia in 2010
Framing of the President: Newspaper Coverage of Milan Bandić and Ivo Josipović in the Presidential Elections in Croatia in 2010

Summary/Abstract: Building on the idea of news framing which is assumed to have a certain influence on people’s perceptions of the world around them, the paper examines how the major newspapers in the country used certain frames to report about the two front-running candidates in the second round of the presidential elections in Croatia in 2010. The paper first examines if there were any differences between Ivo Josipović and Milan Bandić in terms of their visibility in newspaper reports. Secondly, the paper investigates if and how newspapers employed valenced frames to report about the candidates. Thirdly, the paper speculates how the news framing of the candidates may have affected the outcome of the elections. The results show that three valenced news frames dominated the news coverage about the candidates: success frame (winner – loser), suitability frame (suitable – unsuitable) and integrity frame (honest – dishonest). Although Milan Bandić was the most visible candidate, the press favoured Ivo Josipović, framing him as suitable for the position, honest and decent, and as the likely winner. On the other hand, Milan Bandić was framed predominantly as dishonest, unsuitable and the loser. The paper finally suggests that the news framing of the candidates may have contributed to the victory of Ivo Josipović.

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