engleski

Visual communication of images on Croatian news portals during the Covid-19 crisis

In the period of the Covid-19 crisis, visual communication has become a powerful tool for presenting information in the digital environment. Due to that fact, images that appear daily on news portals are pictures of reality. The research aims to analyze the graphic elements on images published on Croatian news portals during the Covid-19 crisis. The purpose of the study is to determine how visual information about Covid-19 was presented in the digital environment on news portals in Croatia from March 15, 2020, to December 30, 2021. The research sample consisted of images published on the five most popular Croatian news portals. The methodology used was Visual content analysis (Bell 2002). The research data were gathered and validated in a customized Web application (Selthofer, Jakopec 2014). Categories and properties in the analysis are created based on previous research in the field (Rose 2012). Image elements from the research sample were infographics and photography. Graphic elements of the infographic, such as symbol, color, illustration, and typography, were analyzed. Photographs from the research sample were marked as figurative or abstract images. Figurative images were analyzed and assigned to one of the following categories: person, building, nature, or artifact. Figurative images of people were further analyzed through different properties: gender, age group, social status, social distance. The research data collected through the study contribute to the knowledge of visual communication characteristics during the Covid-19 crises on news portals in Croatia.

images, news portals, Covid-19 crises, visual communication, visual content analysis, graphic characteristics

nije evidentirano