Citizenship in Media Discourse in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to systematize existing research on media reporting related to various aspects of citizenship, and to contribute with a primary analysis of media content, in order to define how the leading print media in four states (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia) reported on these issues. After establishing the profile of each state, this paper provides a profile of the analysed media, followed by a short summary of how these media reported on selected citizenship-related issues and topics. The main trends in media reporting were analysed within an interdisciplinary theoretical framework that includes the selected approaches/theories in media and communication studies, but also the studies on citizenship. The main assumption is that the mass media in the states under scrutiny, while reporting on citizenship-related issues, have mostly legitimized governments in determining their citizenship policies. Only in Montenegro and, to some extent, in Croatia, when it comes to external voting, have oppositional media outlets continuously criticized the “official” citizenship policies, while in other states the leading media discourses lack a polemical and critical stance towards citizenship-related issues.

Keywords: media, political clientelism, citizenship, nationalism