Ethical Disputes and Credibility of Daily Newspapers-Content Analysis of Front Page Newspaper Articles in Jutarnji list and Večernji list

• Main Author: Dunja Majstorović
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb 2010-12-01
• Series: Medijske Studije
• Subjects: ETHICAL DISPUTES; FRONT PAGE ARTICLES; JUTARNJI LIST; VEČERNJI LIST
• Online Access: http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=113908

Among the more common assertions regarding the media is the existence of a large number of ethical disputes in front page news articles in daily newspapers. Therefore, the main goal of this studyis to establish the number of ethical disputes in articles placed on the front pages of Croatia’s two main dailies, Jutarnji list and Večernji list (sample of one month). In the course of the research three hypotheses were made with the purpose of verifying their accuracy. Using content analysis as the primary method for analysis, the ethically disputable articles were divided into the following categories: anonymous sources, biased display of events, violations of human rights, inappropriate reporting, and headlines that fail to match the text. The same articles were then classifi ed into categories according to their topics. The results of this study confi rm all three hypotheses, the fi rst of which is that there are a large number of ethical disputes in the analyzed articles. In Jutarnji list 26 articles (of 95 analyzed articles) contained 30 ethical disputes and in Večernji list 23 articles (of 108 analyzed) contained 29 ethical disputes. Further, this study concludes that there is a distinct similarity in the number of ethical disputes in the articles in both newspapers. The results verify the third hypothesis; the largest number of ethically disputable articles centered on topics related to domestic politics. The results of the research indicate a violation of journalism ethics which can be explained by increasing sensationalism in daily newspapers. The result of inappropriate reporting has a significant impact on the decline of credibility of newspapers as a medium.