Comparison of public trust in the news at public and commercial radio stations in Croatia

Radio je jedan od najvećih izuma kada su masovni mediji u pitanju. Iako su mnogi najavljivali njegovo nestajanje kao masovnog medija, radio je dokazao da je i dalje vrlo korišten medij bez obzira na sve prognoze o izumiranju. Radio je specifičan medij. Iako će mnogi reći da je svaki medij specifičan i time reći istinu, radio zaista ima bezbroj mogućnosti za napredovanjem i nikako ne smije ostati na onome što je sada. Cilj završnog rada je prikazati i usporediti sličnosti i razlike informativnog programa na javnim i komercijalnim radijskim postajama u Hrvatskoj, te povjerenje publike na spomenutim postajama. U istraživanju se koriste dvije metode istraživanja: analiza slušanja i usporedba dviju radijskih postaja, te analiza povjerenja publike u informativni program korištenjem ankete. Isto tako, završni rad prikazuje teorijski dio o radiju s naglaskom na informativni program. Metoda ankete pokazuje kako slušatelji najviše vjeruju mediju televizije, ali preferiraju zabavni program na radiju. Istraživanjem se potvrđuju polazna očekivanja i hipoteza. Informativni program i zabavno-glazbeni program dvije su glavne sastavnice svake radijske postaje. Oba programa prilagođavaju svoje sadržaje ciljanoj publici i njihovim željama. Iz tog razloga važno je upoznati želje i potrebe publike, te ostvariti njihovo povjerenje. No, bitno je naglasiti kako svaka radijska postaja, isto tako prilagođava svoje sadržaje prema modelu funkcioniranja. Javni servis ili komercijalna radijska postaja imaju različite publike i različite ciljeve. Te se tim saznanjem treba voditi kada se proučava sadržaj bilo koje radijske postaje.Radio is surely one of the greatest inventions of all time when it comes to mass media. Although many have predicted its extinction as a form of mass media, radio has proven that it is very popular regardless of all those forecasts. Radio is a specific media type and although many might say every media is specific, radio has countless possibilities for improvement and should never remain at a level it is currently on. The main goal of this final thesis is to present and compare similarities and differences of news broadcast by public and commercial radio stations in Croatia, and determine how much do the audiences of these stations trust the media. There were two different methods of research used in this study. One was an analysis of listening and comparing two different radio stations, and the other an analysis of the trust the audience has in the information they receive, both of these carried out through a survey. The survey method shows that listeners mostly believe in what they see on television but they prefer entertainment on the radio. The research has confirmed the initial expectations and the hypothesis. News and entertainment programs are the two main components of programs of every radio station. Both of these programs adjust their contents to the targeted audience and their desires. For that reason it is important to know the needs and desires of your audience and gain their trust. However, it is important to stress that every radio station also adjusts its program according to the model of functioning. A public service and a commercial radio station have different audiences and different goals. One should take that into consideration when examining the contents of any radio station