Media presentation of a male and female political candidate on the example of the campaign for the 2019. presidential elections in Croatia

Ovaj rad se bavi temom medijskog prikazivanja muškog i ženskog političkog kandidata na primjeru predsjedničkih izbora u Hrvatskoj 2019. godine. Teorijski dio referira se na feminizam, ulogu medija u demokraciji, medijatizaciju politike, te ulogu medija i način na koji mediji izvještavaju o muškim i ženskim političkim kandidatima. Glavni cilj istraživanja se upravo fokusira na pitanje postoji li razlika u tome kako mediji prikazuju kandidate s obzirom na njihov spol. Za potrebe istraživanja korištena su tri hrvatska internetska portala: Index.hr, Večernji.hr i Jutarnji.hr. Korištena je metoda analize sadržaja. Rezultati su pokazali da se javlja razlika u načinu prikazivanja kandidata s obzirom na spol. U ovom slučaju, ženski kandidat prikazivan je negativnije – u tonu priloga, medijskom toniranju kandidata, autorskog kritičkog odnosa prema temi. Ženski kandidat, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović je više ismijavana i kritizirana. Također, rezultati su pokazali da se mediji oslanjaju na rodne stereotipe, odnosno da se osobine poput racionalnosti, kompetitivnosti i asertivnosti povezuju s muškim kandidatom, ali ne i sa ženskim – ženski kandidatkinja je opisana kao nesigurna, nestabilna i ovisna. Također, stereotipi su pronađeni i u temama o kojima mediji pišu. Uz to, mediji pišu priloge o ženskom kandidatu koji se tiču privatnog života i fizičkog izgleda što nije slučaj za muškog kandidata. Također, fotografije u prilozima oslanjaju se na neke rodne stereotipe.This paper deals with the media presentation of a male and female political candidate on the example of the 2019 presidential elections in Croatia. The theoretical part refers to feminism, the role of the media in democracy, the mediation of politics, the role of the media and the way the media reports on male and female political candidates. The main aim of the research is to focus on the question of whether there is a difference in how the media portrays candidates with regard to their sex. Three Croatian web portals were used for research purposes: Index.hr, Večernji.hr and Jutarnji.hr. We have used content analysis to examine this problem. The results showed that there is a difference in the way candidates are represented by gender. In this case, the female candidate was presented more negatively – in the tone of the supplement, media tone of the candidate, author's critical attitude to the subject. Women candidate, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, was more mocked and criticised. Also, the results showed that the media relies on gender stereotypes, i.e. that features such as rationality, competitiveness and assertiveness are associated with a male candidate, but not with a female - female candidate is described as insecure, unstable and dependent. Stereotypes were also found in the topics the media are writing about. In addition, the media are writing stories about a female candidate concerning private life and physical appearance, which is not the case for a male candidate. Also, the photographs in the articles rely on some gender stereotypes