Abstract
In this article, journalism is analysed within the theoretical framework of sociology of the professions. It focuses on four ‘internal attributes’ linked to the ‘professional project’ and the external relation to the profession of agents involved in the professionalisation process. Based on an analysis of the internal attributes and external agents and using the results of quantitative and qualitative studies on Croatian journalism, the article attempts to analyse these dimensions in a diachronic perspective, with the aim of understanding the current status of the journalist profession in Croatia, and the social, political and economic structures that shape it. It looks at the specificities of the region and the structural changes that occurred in the journalistic field with the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the introduction of a liberal market economy and draws on a survey and focus groups as well as an extensive review of the literature. The conclusion is that the ‘professional project’ of journalism is undergoing a process of gradual decay.
Highlights
The fast and far-reaching structural changes that took place in Southeast Europe in the past two-and-a-half decades created a peculiar setting where elements of former state socialism blended with newly established forms of liberal democracy
Democratisation processes affected the establishment of new institutions that emulated ‘old’ democracies and their value priorities, namely: individualism, a free-market economy, a commitment to human rights, multiculturalism and freedom of speech
Holding a recognised qualification has never been an entrance criterion for accessing journalistic work in Croatia, but the findings suggest that the relevance of a formal qualification in journalism is decreasing further
Summary
The fast and far-reaching structural changes that took place in Southeast Europe in the past two-and-a-half decades created a peculiar setting where elements of former state socialism blended with newly established forms of liberal democracy. The article focuses on four ‘internal attributes’ linked to the ‘professional project’ (Macdonald, 1995) and the external relation to the profession of agents involved in the professionalisation process (Burrage, Jarausch & Siegrist, 1990) and attempts to analyse these dimensions in a diachronic perspective, with the aim of understanding the current status of the journalist profession in Croatia and in the broader Southern European context, and the social, political and economic structures that shape it This theoretical framework is useful, it does have certain limitations, arising in particular from the specificities of journalism as a profession in contemporary market-driven capitalist democracies. The section analyses these external agents and internal attributes as they are applied to journalism as a profession, with a specific focus on Croatia
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