A "Site of Memory" or an Electoral Campaign? A Content Analysis of Croatian Media Prior to the 2015 Parliamentary Elections

Abstract

After a brief theoretical consideration of the cultural memory
and political communication in electoral campaigns, this
paper analyses statements of politicians during the 2015
Croatian parliamentary campaign. The main goal of the
paper is to establish the manner in which events and
happenings from modern Croatian history and the various
‘collective memories' surrounding them were present in the
media excerpts analysed. Research of excerpts from the
leading Croatian media outlets (daily newspapers, TV
stations, web portals) was performed through content
analysis. The results show that excerpts including political
communication about modern historical themes were present
to a significant extent, and that discussions of these topics
were most often provoked by the largest political parties,
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Social Democratic
Party (SDP). On the level of general conclusion, it can be
claimed that the electoral campaign largely became a "site
of memory" where further political conflicts surrounding
historical issues were generated, while discussions of
solutions to numerous social problems were neglected.