The Evolution of the Media System and the Media Studies: the Case of Croatia

A journalistic culture is referred to the identity traits of media professionals within the collective where they belong. In the case of Croatia, this context fits within the polarized pluralist model, which is common among Mediterranean countries. But apart of this general characteristic, this is a country with some unique factors that determine the media system according to political, cultural, economic and professional matters. In this article, and through a systematic revision, we aim to analyze the attributes of Croatian media system from an evolutionary approach. Our results suggest five factors that determine the evolution and the contemporary media working practices and organizations in Croatia. The diverse conceptualizations of communism and the previous context of Croatia before communism, the transition to democracy, the normative context and the working conditions can contextualize the Croatian’s media system. We also describe both the historical background of the Croatian field in mass communication, and the context of the research within the field detected by the previous specialized literature.