Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.22572/mi.27.2.6
Assessment of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Business of Electronic Media in the Republic of Croatia
Josip Popovac
; doktorand na Filozofskom fakultetu Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Vijeće za elektroničke medije
Vanja Gavran
; doktorand na Doktorskoj školi Sveučilišta Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Vijeće za elektroničke medije
Abstract
The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus has affected all segments of society, including the media. The threat to the overall economy likewise endangered the economic operations of media, but it has also affected the quality of their programme contents since social activities were reduced by a series of measures undertaken to prevent the spread of the virus. Media had almost nothing to report on except for pandemic-related topics and, obviously, political topics. The aim of the present paper is to analyse the impact of the pandemic on the overall business of electronic media in the Republic of Croatia. First, in the theoretical part of the paper, we discussed media regulation in general and in Croatia as well as the activities undertaken to minimize the negative impact of the pandemic on
Croatian electronic media. The second part of the paper presents the results of a research conducted by the paper’s authors as a part of their work in the Agency for Electronic Media. The aim of the research was to get a better understanding of the pandemic’s impact. The quantitative research, an online survey, was conducted in January 2021 among providers of various electronic media, registered in the Registry of Media Service Providers, Electronic Publications and Non-profit Producers of Audio-visual and Radio Programmes, kept by the Agency for Electronic
Media. The research collected data on the financial impact of the pandemic, as well as on its impact on the quality of media service providers’ programme contents. The authors also obtained data on the number of employees of the media which participated in the research who were infected by the COVID-19 virus, including the number of the deceased, as well as the information i.e. assessment of the media on how media themselves informed the public about the pandemic as well as how the relevant institutions informed media about the pandemic.
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic; electronic media; the Agency for Electronic Media; Council for Electronic Media; Media Regulation; Revenues from Media Activity of Electronic Media; Measures of the Government of the Republic of Croatia
Hrčak ID:
267770
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2021.
Visits: 1.778 *