Abstract:

Video gaming represents one of everyday ways in which children and youth spend their free time and entertain themselves. As a consequence of the pandemic caused by COVID 19, children and youth today spend a lot more time using video games. With them they enter the virtual world and replace it for the real one, which subsequently reflects negatively on their psychophysical development, especially with preschool children. However, video gaming can also have positive sides, it can, among other things, influence but also help with user education and enable them to develop social interactions. Considering the special influence of video gaming on children and youth, as well as the influence and the role of the media which is today indisputably great considering the development of information and communication technology, we intended to research the media image of video gaming thematic in the context of children and youth on the most widely read Croatian portals. Research has been conducted based on articles published on Croatian news portals: index.hr, jutarnji.hr and 24sata.hr, which were defined as the most widely read portals in the Republic of Croatia pursuant to Alexa.com (in the year 2020). The research encompasses articles published in the period from 1 January 2019 until 31 December 2021. The paper applies the method of qualitative and quantitative content analysis. Research variables of quantitative content analysis are directed to the theme of the articles, journalist genre, geographical focus and media image of researched theme (positive, negative, neutral). Qualitative content analysis of articles covering video games and education showed focus, inter alia, on new study programmes and projects, online courses, and promotion of responsible behaviour in the virtual world. The research also showed that on the most widely read Croatian portals during the research period the most represented articles were covering video games and children and youth in the context of criminality and health hazards (illegal activities, alienation, psychophysical health, etc.), followed by videogames and children and youth in the context of education (new educational programmes, online education, school contests, etc.). Next are the articles on the general thematic of children and youth and video games (youth and profit, competition, game production, etc.), and the smallest number of articles on video games and children and youth in the context of entertainment and socialization (communication, social skills, reducing isolation, etc.). Corpus analysis has demonstrated the attention directed towards the world thematic of video games and children and youth. Considering the journalist approach to the thematic of video games for children and youth, the most represented were the articles of informative character, while the articles demanding analytical and critical journalist approach were less represented, i.e., mostly in articles which dealt with the negative aspects of video games and children and youth.

Keywords:

Video gaming, youth, education, media, content analysis, Croatia.