Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 95 No. 4, 2025.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.95.4.1
Media Reporting on the Prayer Protesters at the Square – A Systems Theory Perspective
Ivan Balabanić
orcid.org/0000-0003-4785-4436
; Institute for Migration Reserach, Zagreb, Croatia
Erik Brezovec
orcid.org/0000-0002-6545-632X
; Faculty of Croatian Studies University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Josip Ježovita
orcid.org/0000-0003-0165-798X
; Catholic University of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The paper analyses media coverage of the phenomenon of men’s prayer gatherings at Ban Jelačić Square in Zagreb through the lens of Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory. The aim of the research was to examine how mass media construct news related to this phenomenon, shape public perception, and influence the dominant media narrative through selective reporting. Employing content analysis as the primary method, the study explores how dominant themes, reporting tone, and patterns of audience reactions evolved over a seven-month period. The analysis encompasses a total of 151 media items published on eight Croatian online news sites in the period between 8 October and 30 April 2023. The findings indicate that initial media reports had been characterized by a neutral tone, however, over time the reporting became increasingly sensationalized and polarized. Furthermore, the analysis of reader reactions reveals that specific interaction patterns (such as likes and comments) contribute to the ongoing reproduction of the media narrative. Drawing on media reporting on the prayer gatherings at Ban Jelačić Square, the study affirms key premises of Luhmann’s theory, demonstrating that the media function as an operationally closed system that constructs, interprets, and sustains media reality through its own codes and programs.
Keywords
media coverage; systems theory; sensationalism; Zagreb; prayer gatherings at the Ban Jelačić square
Hrčak ID:
343743
URI
Publication date:
23.1.2026.
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