Analysis of COVID-19 media reports on Croatia’s most read news portals

U Hrvatskoj se pojavom epidemije koronavirusa značajno promijenio način medijskog izvještavanja. Svaka se vijest činila glavnom, a najviše sadržaja moglo se pronaći na internetskim portalima. Informacije su se, poput virusa, nekontrolirano širile velikom brzinom što je prouzrokovalo procvat senzacionalističkih naslova i dezinformacija u obliku lažnih vijesti. U radu se teorijskom obradom spomenutih termina i provedenih istraživanja prikazuje što se podrazumijeva pod takvim načinom izvještavanja te kakav utjecaj ono ima na javnost.The emergence of the COVID-19 epidemic in Croatia has significantly altered media reporting. Every story on this epidemic was headline news, and most content was available on the Internet portals. Like the virus, the information spread without control at great speeds, generating an outbreak of sensational headlines and disinformation in the form of fake news. This paper provides a theoretical overview of these terms and the conducted research outlines what this type of reporting implies and its effects on the public