Original scientific paper
IDENTITIES ON THE NET: GENDER AND NATIONAL STEREOTYPES ON CROATIAN BROAD-REACH PORTALS
Inga TOMIĆ-KOLUDROVIĆ
Mirko PETRIĆ
Abstract
This article combines content analysis and semiotic analysis to
discuss various ways of perceiving and creating identity of the
users of new media products in the transition society of Croatia.
The analysis of gender and national stereotypes on the
mainstream Croatian Internet portals is meant as a contribution
to understanding of what happens when technologies gaining
prominence simultaneously with the processes of
individualization and reflexive modernization (Beck) meet with a
cultural context in which modern and premodern tendencies
prevail. The results of our analysis reveal that the owners and
editors of the analyzed portals make their business decisions
departing from the perception of an 'unproblematic' identity of
the users. In spite of a relative scarcity of national stereotypes,
the content of the portals is mostly directed at what is perceived
as a non-individualized and unfragmented, male-identified
audience. Methodologically, the article aims to demonstrate
that an essentially old media technique of analysis can be
successfully applied to a new media product.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
16238
URI
Publication date:
31.10.2004.
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