Corrections as Indicators of Media Accountability
Corrections as Indicators of Media Accountability

The Case of Croatian Online Media

Summary/Abstract: This study explores the extent to which media accountability practices have been developed in the Croatian online media. It is based on the content analysis of correction texts (n=330). The findings show that the accountability values in Croatian online media corrections were limited, and the Croatian online media were implementing only those accountability values that help them to create the illusion of ethical conduct. The Croatian online media pub- lished corrections faster than newspapers did and marked responsibility in both the head- lines (43.75% n=140) and in the bodies of texts (61% n=198). On the other hand, the Croatian online media were not improving their transparency and the accessibility corrections by, e.g., tagging (18.12% n=58), sharing on social media (6.4% n=17), not recognising the per- petrators of the errors (79.69% n=255), and by not disclosing erroneous procedures (86.88% n=278). The research has shown that Croatian online media were generally not providing accurate information in the correction texts (82.6% n=264), did not link corrections to the original articles (43.44% n=139), and did not have a formal correction policy/routines.

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