The media image of Croatian war of independence in 1991 as presented by the newspaper Narodni list

Socijalistička Federativna Republika Jugoslavija (SFRJ) bivša je državna tvorevina sastavljena od šest socijalističkih republika, Hrvatske, Srbije, Bosne i Hercegovine, Makedonije, Slovenije i Crne Gore. Verbalni sukobi među državama i narodima u SFRJ bili su dio suživota zbog različitosti na etničkoj, nacionalnoj, vjerskoj i kulturološkoj razini. Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska odlučila je krenuti u proces demokratizacije stoga su 6. svibnja 1990. godine održani prvi višestranački parlamentarni izbori, a 19. svibnja 1991. godine proveden je referendum za neovisnost Republike Hrvatske na kojemu je više od 93 posto glasača dalo svoj glas za samostalnu i suverenu Republiku Hrvatsku. Nakon službenog proglašenja rezultata, srpski pobunjenici su uz pomoć Jugoslavenske narodne armije, okupirali sela na teritoriju Istočne Slavonije, Banovine i Dalmacije. Nova ratišta otvarala su se svakoga dana. U rujnu su započeli dugotrajni napadi na Šibenik i Dubrovnik, a u listopadu i napadi na Zadar koji je bombardiran u nekoliko navrata iz sela u zaleđu grada, gdje je većinsko stanovništvo bilo stanovništvo srpske nacionalnosti. Sve češći napadi na teritorij Republike Hrvatske potaknuli su Sabor da 8. listopada 1991. godine proglasi neovisnost Republike Hrvatske i donese Odluku o odcjepljenju Republike Hrvatske od Socijalističke Federativne Republike Jugoslavije čime je Hrvatska postala samostalna država. Napori hrvatskih diplomata rezultirali su međunarodnim priznanjem Republike Hrvatske i primanjem u zajednicu Ujedinjenih naroda 1992. godine. No, diplomatski apeli ipak nisu imali odjeka na strani agresora stoga je tijekom 1993. godine hrvatska vojska poduzela niz vojnih akcija kojima je oslobodila većinu okupiranog teritorija. Ostatak okupiranog teritorija, osim područja Hrvatskog Podunavlja, hrvatske su snage oslobodile do 1995. godine. Mirnom reintegracijom 15. siječnja 1998. godine, Hrvatsko Podunavlje vraćeno je pod nadzor Republike Hrvatske te od toga dana Hrvatska ima potpunu kontrolu nad svojom međunarodno priznatom granicom. Veliku ulogu u širenju istine o Domovinskom ratu imali su novinari. Domaći i strani ratni izvjestitelji stradavali su obavljajući svoj posao. Statistika pokazuje kako je do sredine studenog 1991. na bojišnicama u Hrvatskoj ubijeno 18 novinara, od toga šest stranih. Na zadarskome području, veliku ulogu u informiranju građana imali su novinari Narodnog lista. Novinari ovih najstarijih novina na hrvatskome jeziku koje izlaze još i danas svake su subote izvještavali čitatelje o stanju na bojištima, stradanju civila, uništavanju kulturne baštine kao i o događanjima na političkoj sceni. Za potrebe analize sadržaja, obrađen je pedeset jedan broj Narodnog lista iz 1991. godine, izdan u razdoblju od 5. siječnja do 28. prosinca 1991. godine. Glavni cilj istraživačkog dijela ovoga rada jest istraživanje tematike i utvrđivanje udjela novinskih članaka o Domovinskom ratu 1991. godine na stranicama Narodnog lista. Također, jedan od ciljeva jest i utvrditi postoji li povezanost intenziteta objavljivanja novinskih članaka u Narodnom listu i broja istih s događajima tijekom Domovinskoga rata 1991. godine te odrediti geografski fokus istraživanih novinskih članaka o Domovinskome ratu na stranicama Narodnog lista u promatranome razdoblju. Kvantitativnom analizom sadržaja utvrđeno je kako se može povezati intenzitet objavljivanja novinskih članaka i njihov broj s događajima tijekom rata 1991. godine pošto se broj novinskih članaka o Domovinskom ratu intenzivirao u drugoj polovici 1991. kada su počela sve češća ratna razaranja. Pritom su najčešće korištene novinske forme izvještaj, komentar i reportaža, a najčešće teme unutar tematike Domovinskog rata bile su socioekonomske teme. Dobivenim rezultatima utvrđeno je i kako su analizirani novinski članci bili većinom fokusirani na područje tadašnjih općina Zadar, Benkovac, Biograd na Moru, Obrovac i Otočac, odnosno područje današnje Zadarske županije.The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a former state entity made up of six socialist republics: Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia and Montenegro. Because of the diversity on the ethnical, national, religious and cultural level between these countries and nations, verbal clashes were part of a co-existence in the former Yugoslavia. The Socialist Republic of Croatia decided to start the process of democratization, therefore its first multiparty parliamentary elections were held on 6th of May 1990. Furthermore, on 19th of May 1991 the referendum for the Croatian independence was held. After the official declaration of the results, Serbian rebels, with the help of the Yugoslav People's Army, occupied villages in the Eastern Slavonia, Banovina and Dalmatia. New battlefields were opened every day. In September began long-term attacks on Šibenik and Dubrovnik and in October the attacks on Zadar. Zadar was bombed on several occasions from the villages in the hinterland of the city, where the majority of the population were inhabitants of Serbian nationality. More frequent attacks on the Croatian territory have prompted Parliament to declare the independence of the Republic of Croatia on the 8th of October 1991 and to adopt The decision on dissolution of all state and legal ties with other republics and provinces of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Efforts of the Croatian diplomats have resulted into an international recognition of the Republic of Croatia and the admission to the community of the United Nations in 1992. However, as diplomatic appeals still have made no impact on the side of the aggressor, during the 1993 Croatian army undertook a series of military actions that liberated most of the occupied territories. The rest of the occupied territory, except the area of the Croatian Danube region, was liberated until 1995 by the Croatian forces. The Croatian Danube region was returned under the control of Croatia with the peaceful reintegration on the 15th of January 1998, and from that day, Croatia has a complete control over its internationally recognized borders. The journalists had a huge role in spreading the truth about the Homeland War. Domestic and foreign war correspondents were perished while doing their job. Statistics show that by midNovember 1991, eighteen journalists were killed on the battlefields in Croatia, among which six were foreigners. In the Zadar area, journalists of Narodni list had a major role in informing citizens about the war-happenings. Every Saturday, the journalists of these oldest newspapers written in the Croatian language, those that are being published even today, reported about the situation on the battlefield, suffering of civilians, destruction of the cultural heritage as well as about the developments on the political scene. For the analysis of the content, fifty-one number of Narodni list issued in the period from the 5th of January until the 28th of December 1991. was processed. The main aim of the research part of this paper is to analyze the topic and to determine the share of the newspaper articles about the Homeland War in 1991 on the pages of Narodni list. Moreover, one of the objectives is to determine whether there is a connection between the intensity and the number of the publication of the newspaper articles in the Narodni list with the events during the Homeland War in 1991 and to determine the geographical focus of the newspaper articles on the war on the pages of Narodni list in the observed period. Quantitative analysis of the content showed that there is a connection between the intensity of the publication of the newspaper articles in the Narodni list and the number of them with the events during the Homeland War in 1991 as the number of newspaper articles on the war intensified in the second half of 1991 when the ravages of the war events became more frequent. The most commonly used form of the news were reports, commentaries and reportages, and the most common topics within the main theme of the Homeland War were socio-economic topics. The results have confirmed that the analyzed newspaper articles were mostly focused on the area of the municipalities of Zadar, Benkovac, Biograd, Obrovac and Otočac, the area of today's Zadar County