Negotiating the “F word”– Croatian Women’s Movements and the News Media

Abstract

By applying qualitative thematic analysis to mainstream media coverage of three hashtag (online) feminist initiatives in Croatia– Prekinimo šutnju, #spasime, and Nisam tražila, this thesis explored how initiatives addressing gender-based violence were covered in the Croatian news media. Findings indicated tabloidized approach to the coverage, various forms of symbolic annihilation of women, personalization of movements, and avoidance of terms "gender and feminism" in the coverage. This master thesis contributes to the scarce existing research on online feminist activism and its media portrayals in Croatia.