Findings

The analysis of causal conditions that are explicitly connected with higher degrees of person-centred media reporting revealed two causal paths. The first causal recipe suggests that the media reporting is person-centred when journalistic culture is autonomous, the politician is a directly elected President but not a party leader, and when the leader him/herself is seen as pursuing a person-centred communication. In the second causal recipe, having an autonomous media is not necessary, rather it is the deferential journalistic culture that is an important media-related factor. Other associated factors in this solution are presidential political system in which the President is the head of the executive, with this President’s mediated communication being person-centred. The first path helps explain why post-communist presidents Mesić and Josipović were more visible in the media than the parties whose members they were, while the second path accounts for why communist President Tito was so prominent in media reporting. It is evident from these causal recipes that media focuses more on Presidents whose communication is person-centred in both communist and post-communist context, but these conditions are not sufficient on their own. It is also interesting to note that journalistic culture is an important element in both solutions, but as expected, both autonomous and deferential journalistic culture is associated with higher degrees of person-centred media reporting. It can be argued that in communism the deferential media put the focus on the political leader by following the cues of the political elite.

However, in the post-communist period the important condition which is connected to the media's focus on individual political actors is the autonomy of the media, arguably because independent media operate according to media logic in which reporting about individuals is one of the news values.

Table 1. Causal recipes for the person-centred media reporting

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- --- j_culture*party_leader*president*elect_syst*l_person 0.357143 0.357143 1.000000

~j_culture*president*hoe*elect_syst*pol_sys*l_person 0.238095 0.238095 0.869565

The fsQCA also allows exploration of causal paths that are connected to lower degrees of person-centred media reporting. According to this analysis there is only one causal recipe that helps explain the party-centred reporting. Specifically, when the journalistic culture is autonomous and the reported politician is a Prime Minister and party leader in a parliamentary political system, the media does not

pursue person- but rather party-centred reporting. This path accounts for the lower degrees of mediated visibility of the post-2000 Prime Ministers Račan, Sanader, Kosor and Milanović. This causal path shows that even when the journalistic culture is autonomous, the PMs and party leaders in a post-communist parliamentary system are still less visible than their parties. It is also interesting to note that while higher degrees of leaders' person-centred communication are connected to higher degrees of person-centred media reporting, the degree to which leaders personalize their communication does not seem to be an important factor in the de-personalisation of media reporting which was observed in the post-2000 period. In other words, the media content was de-personalized, notwithstanding the ways in which the politicians were seen to have communicated. Hence, it can be suggested that the growth in media autonomy and the change of the political system are among the most important factors connected to the de-personalisation of media reporting in post-2000 Croatia. The more independent media might be seen as (re)acting to institutional changes and putting more focus on political parties because they were by the introduction of the parliamentary system given a more important and powerful place in the political system.

Table 2. Causal recipe for the lack of the person-centred media reporting

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- --- j_culture*party_leader*~president*~pol_sys 0.517241 0.517241 0.750000

7.2.2. Outcome: The person-centred leaders’ mediated communication

There are three intermediate solutions connected to higher degrees of the person-centred leaders’ mediated communication. The first causal recipe suggests that leaders are reported as focusing more on themselves than on their parties even when their parties have strong support among voters (higher degrees of party identification) if they are not ideologically extreme, the society exhibits high degree of authoritarianism, and the journalistic culture is autonomous. This path helps explain the high degree of person-centred leaders’ mediated communication in the case of the political leaders who were in power in the 2010s, Prime Ministers Kosor and Milanović, and President Josipović. The second causal recipe suggests that leaders who belong to centrist parties and communicate in an autonomous media

party leaders, are elected through a majoritarian system and the media focuses more on them than on their parties, are also reported as pursuing person-centred communication. This causal recipe helps explain the ways in which President Mesić’s mediated communication was personalized. Finally, the last causal recipe suggests that leaders elected by majoritarian system in a presidential political system characterized by a deferential journalistic culture, high degree of authoritarianism in the society, and higher degrees of person-centred media reporting, put more emphasis on themselves in their communication than on their parties. This path accounts for the high degree of Tito's person-centred mediated communication. Hence, the first two paths help explain the person-centred leaders’

mediated communication in the post-communist system and suggest that necessary factors are autonomous media and centrist orientation of leaders’ parties, but these conditions are not sufficient on their own¹⁷. The most interesting finding from these causal paths is that some leaders can be seen as pursuing person-centred communication even if the party identification is high. Having in mind that those were leaders in power in 2010s, this can mean that the person-centred leaders’

mediated communication became normalized in the consolidation period since leaders pursue it even though they have strong support among voters.

Table 3. Causal recipes for the person-centred leader's communication

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- --- j_culture*authoritarian*centrist*~party_id 0.416667 0.333333 0.937500

~j_culture*authoritarian*elect_syst*pol_sys*m_person 0.138889 0.083333 1.000000 j_culture*centrist*party_leader*party_id*elect_syst 0.131944 0.104167 1.000000

*m_person

Table 7.4. reports two paths that are associated with low degrees of leaders' person-centred mediated communication. Based on these recipes it can be concluded that necessary conditions for leaders to be portrayed as putting less focus on themselves than on their parties are them being party leaders in parliamentary political systems, being elected through proportional electoral systems and working in an autonomous journalistic culture. However, these conditions are

17 As necessary conditions are understood those that appear in all solutions to the outcome, while sufficient conditions are those that appear in all solutions, but without any other conditions alongside them.

not sufficient, since this combination of factors needs to be supplemented either by a low degree of authoritarianism in the society or by a low level of party identification. While the first causal recipe accounts for the low degree of Prime Minister Račan's person-centred mediated communication, the second helps explain Prime Minister Sanader's mediated communication. It should be noted that while low levels of authoritarianism in society act as predicted, i.e. forming conditions for political leaders to focus more on institutions and issues than on individuals, the connection of lower degrees of party identification to lower degrees of leader's person-centred mediated communication is unexpected.

Table 4. Causal recipes for the lack of the person-centred leader's communication

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- --- j_culture*~authoritarian*~party_leader*~elect_syst* 0.446429 0.160714 0.757576

~pol_sys*~m_person

j_culture*~party_leader*party_id*~elect_syst* 0.357143 0.071429 0.833333

~pol_sys*~m_person

7.2.3. Outcome: The persona-centred media reporting

The fsQCA yields four combinations of factors that are connected to higher degrees of the persona-centred media reporting. However, the third and fourth solution have a unique coverage of 0, meaning that the cases they explain have already been accounted for in other solutions. In other words, these causal recipes should be seen as empirically irrelevant (Ragin, 2006), and so only the first two solutions will be discussed. According to these causal paths, necessary conditions for higher degrees of persona-centred media reporting are autonomous journalistic culture and higher degree of television reach. However, they are not sufficient and need to be accompanied by either the fact that the reported leader is not head of the executive or the fact that he/she holds the Prime Ministerial position. The first causal path helps explain why the media pursued persona-centred reporting when covering post-communist Presidents Mesić and Josipović. The second path accounts for the high degree of the persona-centred media reporting in the cases of the post-2000 Prime Ministers Sanader, Kosor and Milanović.

The analysis of causal paths that are associated with lower degrees of persona-centred media reporting resulted in only one solution. Specifically, when journalistic culture is deferential, and there is lower television reach, weaker

commercial media sector and no television debates, the media pursue less persona-centred reporting. This solution accounts for lower media visibility of communist leader Tito’s persona. However, it should be noted that this causal path has a very low consistency (0,5), meaning that this combination of factors is not always connected to this outcome.

Table 5. Causal recipe for the persona-centred media reporting

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- --- j_culture*tv_reach*~hoe 0.369565 0.021739 1.000000 j_culture*tv_reach*~president 0.586957 0.141304 0.964286 j_culture*commercial*tv_reach 0.451087 0.000000 1.000000 j_culture*tv_reach*l_persona 0.434783 0.000000 1.000000

Table 6. Causal recipe for the lack of the persona-centred media reporting

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- ---

~j_culture*~commercial*~tv_reach*~tv_debate*~party_id 0.750000 0.750000 0.500000

7.2.4. Outcome: The persona-centred leaders’ mediated communication

According to this analysis, there are four possible combinations of variables connected to high degrees of leaders’ persona-centred mediated communication.

However, given that the third and fourth recipes have very low unique coverage, i.e.

the cases they explain have already been explained by other solutions, only the first and the second recipe are deemed empirically relevant. Based on these two causal paths it can be concluded that the only necessary condition for a higher degree of persona-centred leaders’ communication is a high degree of persona-centred media reporting. However, this condition is necessary but not sufficient, and in the first solution it is important that alongside this factor the leader is a directly elected President who has been in political life for a long time. This recipe accounts for the high degree of communist leader Tito’s persona-centred mediated communication.

On the other hand, the high degree of persona-centred media reporting is associated with a higher degree of persona-centred leaders’ communication also when the leader is new to politics, he/she is a centrist and the television reach is substantial. This recipe accounts for the ways in which the Prime Minister Kosor and

President Josipović were reported to personalize their communication. The conditions which feature in this solution which is connected with leaders in the post-communist system act as expected. Specifically, larger television reach was thought to be connected to the fact that leaders pursue more persona-centred communication. Similarly, centrist political ideology was assumed to be associated with leaders’ more inclined to communicate information about themselves and in that way act as brand differentiators for voters. However, while those with fewer years in politics in the post-communist system might consider pursuing more persona-centred communication, in the communist system the opposite condition is connected to the same outcome. In other words, in combination with other factors, the fact that Tito was a long standing figure in Yugoslav politics is also associated with his persona-centred mediated communication, which can be seen as a communist system peculiarity.

Of the four intermediate solutions which help explain low degrees of leaders’

persona-centred mediated communication, two do not cover any cases on their own (i.e. their unique coverage is 0), so they are excluded from further analysis.

According to the other two empirically relevant paths, there is one necessary condition for a low degree of persona-centred leaders’ mediated communication – high party identification. This condition is necessary, but not sufficient. Hence in the first path it needs to be accompanied by the fact that the leader in question holds a Prime Ministerial position and is relatively new to politics. This solution accounts for the low degree of persona-centred mediated communication of the 1990s Prime Ministers Valentić and Mateša, but also Milanović in the 2010s. The other causal path suggests that alongside high party identification, not even the fact that the television is quite prevalent makes leader communicate large amount of information about themselves if they are ideologically extreme, belong to a pre-boomer generation and the commercial media sector is quite weak. This solution helps explain the degree to which the first post-communist President Tuđman communicated information about himself. It was expected that high party identification will be an important variable connected with the fact that leaders communicate less information about themselves. However, it is surprising that the PMs who are new to politics do not communicate more information about themselves. Also, it is important to note that in this solution all the conditions connected to a low degree of persona-centred leaders’ mediated communication are politically-related. Hence, although there is a path in which the media-related variables also play a role, it seems that there are situations in which some leaders

that the media in this post-communist context has not “colonized” politics to a significant extent, as opposed to what Meyer (2002) argues is the case in some Western systems.

Table 7. Causal recipes for the persona-centred leader's mediated communication

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- --- president*elect_syst*~years*m_persona 0.260870 0.130435 0.888889 tv_reach*~years*m_persona*centrist 0.478261 0.347826 0.916667 president*elect_syst*tv_reach*m_persona*centrist*party_id 0.206522 0.032609 1.000000 commercial*president*elect_syst*tv_reach*boomer 0.130435 0.086956 1.000000

*m_persona*centrist

Table 8. Causal recipes for the lack of the persona-centred leader's mediated communication

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- ---

~party_id*~president*years 0.703704 0.037037 0.904762

~party_id*~president*boomer 0.629630 -0.000000 0.894737

~party_id*~centrist*years*~boomer*~commercial 0.148148 -0.000000 1.000000

~party_id*~centrist*~boomer*tv_reach*~commercial 0.222222 0.074074 1.000000

7.2.5. Outcome: The private persona-centred media reporting

There is a single path that leads to higher degree of the private persona-centred media reporting, but its consistency is quite low (0,5), meaning that the combination of causal conditions from this solution is not always or even in the majority of cases associated with the high mediated visibility of leaders’ private lives.

This causal recipe suggests that when the media are autonomous, television is widespread and the leader is new to politics, the media increasingly reports about his/her private life. This combination of factors helps explain the high degree of media visibility of the private lives of the 1990s Prime Minister Valentić’s and 2010s President Josipović.

Table 9. Causal recipe for the private persona-centred media reporting

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- ---

j_culture*tv_reach*years 0.933333 0.933333 0.500000

On the other hand, the analysis of low degrees of private persona-centred media reporting produced three causal paths. According to these paths, there are five necessary conditions for this dimension of personalisation, but they are not sufficient on their own. The necessary conditions are the weak tabloid sector and weak commercial media sector, strong libel and privacy laws and low degree of the private persona-centred leader’s mediated communication. In the first causal path these conditions need to be supplemented by a low television reach and a leader who has been long in politics, so this solution helps explain the low media visibility of communist leader Tito’s private life. The second causal path alongside the necessary conditions and the fact that the leader needs to be a long known political actor also emphasizes the importance of the autonomous journalistic culture. This solution accounts for the low private persona-centred media reporting of Prime Minister Račan. Finally, the third causal path suggests that the five necessary conditions in combination with the autonomous media are associated with low media exposure of a leader’s private life if he/she is a President. This solution helps explain why 1990s President Tuđman’s and 2000s President Mesić’s private lives were not very media visible.

Table 10. Causal recipes for the lack of the private persona-centred media reporting

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- ---

~tabloid*~tv_reach*~libel_law*~privacy_law 0.085714 0.085714 1.000000

*~commercial*~years*~l_private

j_culture*~tabloid*~libel_law*~privacy_law*~commercial 0.271429 0.185714 1.000000

*~years*~l_private

j_culture*~tabloid*~libel_law*~privacy_law*~commercial 0.185714 0.100000 1.000000

*president*~l_private

7.2.6. Outcome: The private persona-centred leaders’ mediated communication

There is a single intermediate solution that helps explain the high degree of leaders’ private persona-centred mediated communication, which is not surprising given none of the leaders was considered to be a full member of this set, and only President Josipović was considered to be “mostly in” the set membership. Hence, this single solution helps explain the degree to which he put the focus on his private life in his mediated statements. The solution suggests that his reported focus on his private life is associated with a fact that he is a centrist and a President who is member of the baby boom generation, who was quite new to politics when he came to power, and works in a media environment characterized by strong tabloid and commercial media sector in which the media put significant focus on his private life.

Table 11. Causal recipe for the private persona-centred leader's mediated communication

Raw Unique Consistency coverage coverage

--- --- --- tabloid*tv_reach*commercial*centrist*president*years 0.272727 0.272727 1.000000

*boomer*m_private

The analysis of the low degree of leaders’ private persona-centred mediated communication resulted in four possible causal combinations, each of which seems to be relevant for a particular time period. The combination of weak tabloid and commercial media sector, coupled with a low degree of media’s private persona-centred reporting about a leader who is not new to politics and is a member of the pre-boomer generation, is one possible recipe connected to low degree of reported leaders’ emphasis on his/her private life. This recipe helps explain why communist leader Tito was not reported as communicating information about his private life.

The other three solutions place high party identification as a necessary condition associated with low degree of private persona-centred leaders’ mediated communication in a post-communist democracy. But this condition is not sufficient on its own. Specifically, the second recipe suggests that those who also hold a Prime Ministerial position and more extreme ideological views in a media system characterized by weak tabloid sector and low degree of commercialization, are not willing to communicate information about their private life. This recipe accounts for low degrees of private life mediated revelations of 1990s Prime Ministers Valentić

The other three solutions place high party identification as a necessary condition associated with low degree of private persona-centred leaders’ mediated communication in a post-communist democracy. But this condition is not sufficient on its own. Specifically, the second recipe suggests that those who also hold a Prime Ministerial position and more extreme ideological views in a media system characterized by weak tabloid sector and low degree of commercialization, are not willing to communicate information about their private life. This recipe accounts for low degrees of private life mediated revelations of 1990s Prime Ministers Valentić