Use of the Term "Citizen" In Online Media Reports On Mostar's Local Elections

Abstract

The specific regulatory framework under which the local elections in Mostar in 2020 were held, and especially the fact that the elections in this city were held after 12 years, puts in the focus of communication research the media treatment of the relationship between citizens and political parties in local communities organized under a mortgage of war ethnic and territorial divisions. Having in mind the influence of online media, both independent and relying on traditional media productions, this paper primarily deals with reporting on the results of local elections in Mostar, questioning the focus of reports in the context of relations between citizens, as a universal political category, and political candidates competing for the management of public affairs at the local level. Also, in additional elements of the research, the paper deals with the analysis of identification of participants in political processes, on the one hand, a citizen, who in the public discourse of Bosnia and Herzegovina is often treated as a member of an ethnic group, and a political party on the other, usually treated in media reports as a representative of national categories, and not as a performer of public affairs concerning the achieved election results.