Original scientific paper
Propaganda, the Media, Heroes, Myths and Warriors
Reana Senjković
Abstract
The history of the research of mass media and the propaganda they disseminate is in its essence connected with the great wars of the twentieth century. They provided a strong incentive to the study and research of the influence of the media on the forming of public opinion. Also, social crises, of which wars are certainly the most intense kind, make people more dependant on information, but also less critical of their content. And while all these statements are indisputable, the room they leave for different viewpoints, insights and even disciplines always allows them to be a subject of discussion, which can never be fully concluded.
The media images from wartime Croatia (1991-1995) very much resemble the media images of other wars of the twentieth century. Accordingly, the figure of the Croatian Warrior, derived from these images to become a role model, and a motivator, but also to inscribe itself into the identity of the nation, greatly resembles other figures of model warriors. Still, that figure, as many relevant segments in foreign scientific literature show, is not necessarily and exclusively the result of top-down war censorship.
But it seems especially interesting to compare the media-produced figure of the Croatian Warrior with the "Croatian soldier" described by wartime autobiographic prose, or the testimonies of those who went to war as volunteers, as well as those who were brought to the battlefields through mobilization. Here, the field reflections of the media-produced Warrior often become the objects of mockery or reasons for bitterness. The first case refers to the uselessness of "iconographic additions" and even the misunderstanding of the "laws of the battlefield", while the second case refers to the dishonesty of the image and its disproportion in view inadequate supplies and hard conditions of warfare.
Keywords
propaganda; war; the media; Croatian soldier; warrior
Hrčak ID:
2834
URI
Publication date:
26.12.2001.
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