Students’ habits of using news portals and tendency of accepting populism

Plenković, Mateja. (2019). Students’ habits of using news portals and tendency of accepting populism. PhD Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Information Science.
(Poslijediplomski doktorski studij informacijskih i komunikacijskih znanosti) [mentor Labaš, Danijel and Balabanić, Ivan].

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Abstract

For the past few decades, the emergence and strengthening of populism in modern societies has intensified the interest of social scientists for exploring its causes and consequences. Two factors that contribute the most to the growth and strengthening of populism are politics and the media. In contemporary society, media play an increasingly important role in expanding political ideas. This makes policy increasingly dependent on media, and the power of that trend is described as the mediatization of politics. The media are considered mediators towards the media audience and also shapers of individuals’ attitudes, opinions, tendencies, feelings and behaviours. The purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to contribute to the existing knowledge with new empirical data on populism in Croatian society. The relationship between populism and media in Croatian society was explored through students' habits, tendencies and opinions, and through the analysis of presence of media populism in the daily news portals that students most frequently use. Daily news portals were chosen for analysis of media populism because of the wide use of the internet among students, and the confidence students show towards it. The population of students was chosen because of its representative position in the youth population, and their influence on future social trends. The media effects of exposure to media populism have been analysed through consistency theories, uses-and-gratification theory, cultivation theory, agenda-setting theory, and the spiral of silence theory. The main aim of the research was to examine the relationship between the content of daily news portals students most frequently use and their tendencies to accept certain types of (leftwing and right-wing) populism. Research was based on two quantitative methods. In the first step, a survey was conducted with a sample of 1189 students at the University of Zagreb. The questionnaire designed for the purposes of this research consisted of questions about general purposes of using the media; internet use and internet political participation; habits of using daily news portals; tendency to accept populism; interest in politics, trust in institutions, and personal political orientation; degree of religiosity, socio-demographic characteristics, general information about students, and personal assessment of important social-political problems in Croatia. In the second step, a content analysis of daily news portals students most frequently use has been conducted. The analysis encompassed 250 columns dedicated to social and political issues. The analytical matrix designed for the purposes of this research consisted of content categories that covered general information about columns; content characteristics of columns; reference to people, elite and others, and their relationships; and the presence of political populist communication style. The first specific aim of the research was to examine the relationship between students’ habits in using daily news portals and their tendency to accept populism. The results show that students most frequently use portals Index.hr, Jutarnji.hr, Večernji.hr, Dnevnik.hr, and 24sata.hr. They most frequently choose the portals they use based on their personal assessment of portal’s political objectivity, and also, although less frequently, based on their perception of the accordance of the portal with their personal political orientation. Students are more inclined to accept the general than the right-wing populism, and also the left-wing than the right-wing populism. Students who are more inclined towards general populism are also more inclined towards left-wing and right-wing populism, but to a greater extent towards left-wing populism. Significant correlations have been established between the use of portals Index.hr, Jutarnji.hr and 24sata.hr and students’ tendency to accept populism. Students who more frequently use 24sata.hr are more inclined to accept the general and the right-wing populism; those who more frequently use Index.hr are more inclined to accept the left-wing and less inclined to accept the right-wing populism; those who more frequently use Jutarnji.hr are less inclined to accept the general and the right-wing populism; and those who more frequently use the Večernji.hr are less inclined to accept the general populism. However, all the obtained correlations are low. Overall, the results point to the conclusion that students’ habits in using certain daily news portals are related with their tendency to accept certain types of populism. The second specific aim of the research was to examine the relationship between students' tendency to accept populism and their socio-demographic characteristics, level of the study, field of the study, personal political orientation, trust in different institutions, and the degree of religiosity. The results show that male students are more inclined to accept general, and female students are more inclined to accept right-wing populism. The tendency to accept general, leftwing and right-wing populism is less pronounced among students whose parents are more educated. Students who rate their personal living standards as poorer are more inclined to accept general and left-wing populism. Acceptance of general populism is more pronounced among undergraduate students, while the acceptance of right-wing populism is more pronounced among students in the science-technology-biomedicine-biotechnology filed of the study. Students who are more right politically oriented are more inclined to accept right-wing populism. Religious students are somewhat more inclined to accept right-wing and general populism. Students who are more inclined to accept general populism have less confidence in the Croatian Government, the Croatian Parliament, and the EU institutions. Students who are more inclined to accept left-wing populism show less confidence in the President of the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Government, the Croatian Parliament, the EU institutions, the Croatian Army, the police, the Church, and the media. Students who are more inclined to accept right-wing populism show less confidence in the EU institutions and the media, and more confidence in the President of the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Government, the Croatian Parliament, the Croatian Army, the police and the Church. The result point to the general conclusion that students’ tendency to accept certain types of populism depends on their gender, parental education, perception of living standard, level and field of the study, personal political orientation, trust in different (inter)national institutions, and the degree of religiosity. The third specific aim of the research was to determine the presence of left-wing and right-wing populism in the content of daily news portals that students most frequently use. Media populism is the most present on the portal Index.hr, while it is the least present on the portal Dnevnik.hr. It is possible to perceive the trend that left-wing populism is more present on the Index.hr, and right-wing populism on the Večernji.hr. It is also noticeable that left-wing populism is the least present on the Dnevnik.hr, and right-wing populism on the Index.hr. Regarding the general orientation of daily news portals, obtained on the basis of calculating the differences between the presence of left-wing and right-wing populism, it has been established that Index.hr and Jutarnji.hr are more left-wing, and the Večernji.hr, Dnevnik.hr and 24sata.hr are more right-wing populistic. Based on the results, it can be concluded that left-wing and right-wing populism are represented to a different extent on examined daily news portals. The fourth specific aim of the research was to examine the relationship between students’ exposure to left-wing and right-wing media populism and their tendency to accept left-wing and right-wing populism. Students who are more exposed to left-wing populism of the Index.hr are more inclined to accept left-wing populism and less inclined to accept right-wing populism; students who are less exposed to left-wing populism of the Jutarnji.hr are more inclined towards right-wing populism; students who are less exposed to right-wing populism of the 24sata.hr are more inclined to accept right-wing populism; students who are more exposed to right-wing populism of Večernji.hr are more inclined to accept general populism. These results are mostly consistent with the trends observed in analyses of students’ self-reported habits in portal use and tendency of accepting left-wing and right-wing populism. Overall, based on the results, it can be concluded that students’ tendency to accept left-wing and right-wing populism is related with their exposure to left-wing and right-wing media populism. This study showed that students’ tendency to accept populism is related with their exposure to media populism, which varies on different daily news portals students most frequently use. It should be noted that the obtained correlations do not indicate a causal relationship between exposure to left-wing or right-wing media populism and the tendency to accept left-wing or right-wing populism. The tendencies to accept populism may develop due to exposure to media that contain and/or transmit populist rhetoric, but it is also possible that people who are inclined to accept populism choose the media that support their attitudes and opinions. The results are discussed in the context of the theory of media effects, the possible social consequences of populism, and the relationship between media and populism.

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