Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.31192/np.20.1.10
FM Radio’s Response to a Dual Crisis Situation in the Republic of Croatia: The COVID-19 Pandemic and the 2020 Zagreb Earthquake
Anita Šulentić
orcid.org/0000-0003-2331-4937
; Department of Media and Communication, University North, Koprivnica, Croatia
Abstract
The paper examines the programming and organisational responses of FM radio to a dual crisis situation in the Republic of Croatia. At the very beginning of the national COVID-19 lockdown, on 22 March 2020, the capital city of Zagreb was struck by the strongest earthquake in the last 140 years. With the purpose of ‘recording’ the situation at the time when the disaster was actually occurring, the research aims to question how the radio stations in the area acted under such unprecedented crisis circumstances. Methodologically, it is a qualitative and descriptive research based on the analysis of questionnaire answers. Open-ended questions are grouped into three main topics: organization and programme changes, sources of information and the role of digital platforms. The results reveal that radio stations tended to retain their formatted programme content regardless of the dual crisis. This finding indicates the necessity to re-examine the overall role of FM radio in a modern democratic society.
Keywords
COVID-19; crisis situation; earthquake; FM radio; radio programme
Hrčak ID:
274158
URI
Publication date:
17.3.2022.
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