Infotainment in Television News
A Croatian Paradox of Presentation Styles and Their Reception by Young Viewers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51480/1899-5101.19.1(42).971Keywords:
Infotainment, Television News, Young Audiences, Media Consumption, News PerceptionAbstract
This paper explores how infotainment elements in television news influence the viewing habits of younger audiences. It compares traditional news formats in Croatia (HRT’s Dnevnik 3) with infotainment-based formats (RTL’s Direkt) to assess their impact on young viewers’ perception and media behavior. Using content analysis and a survey among youth, the study examines differences in news presentation styles and their influence on content perception, source preferences, and attitudes toward news formats. The findings suggest that infotainment elements may play an important role in shaping young audiences’ preferences, with many respondents indicating a tendency to favor more engaging and visually dynamic content over traditional reporting styles. The results also point to a broader media paradox, where the way news is presented may, in some cases, influence audience engagement as much as the informational content itself. This research offers insights into how news presentation styles affect the information consumption habits of younger viewers, linking theoretical insights to empirical data.
References
AGB Nielsen Istraživanje Medija d.o.o. (2024). AGB Nielsen: Podaci o gledanosti TV-a su tajna (TV audience ratings data are confidential). Poslovni dnevnik. https://www.poslovni.hr/hrvatska/agb-nielsen-podaci-o-gledanosti-tv-a-su-tajna-54277
Boukes, M., Chu, X., Noon, M. F. A., Liu, R., Araujo, T., & Kroon, A. C. (2021). Comparing user-content interactivity and audience diversity across news and satire: Differences in online engagement between satire, regular news and partisan news. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 18(4), 422-439. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2021.1927928
Brosius, H.-B. (1993). The effects of emotional pictures in television news. Communication Research, 20(1), 105-124. https://doi.org/10.1177/009365093020001005
Car, V., & Peruško, Z. (2010). Media in Croatia: The transition from authoritarianism to democracy. In K. Jakubowicz & M. Sükösd (Eds.), Finding the right place on the map: Central and Eastern European media change in a global perspective (pp. 165-182). Intellect.
Dai, X., & Wang, J. (2023). Effect of online video infotainment on audience attention. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10, Article 364. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02061-0
Esquen, B., & Palomino-Flores, P. (2024). Generation Z and the media landscape: Shifting credibility and adaptation strategies in journalism. In International Conference on Communication and Applied Technologies (pp.395-405). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-0426-5_34
Hendrickx, J., & Vázquez-Herrero, J. (2024). Dissecting social media journalism: A comparative study across platforms, outlets and countries. Journalism Studies, 25(9),
1053-1075. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2024.2324318
Holbert, R. L. (2005). A typology for the study of entertainment television and politics. American Behavioral Scientist, 49(3), 436-453. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764205279419
Indrati, I. (2024). News innovation through infotainment in the ‘Meet Nite Live’ program on Metro TV news television. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392754671_News_innovation_through_infotainment_in_the_’Meet_Nite_Live’_program_on_Metro_TV_news_television
Lycarião, D. (2024). Disentangling public sphere fragmentation from media choice. International Journal of Communication, 18, 4623-4643. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/385311719_Disentangling_Public_Sphere_Fragmentation_From_Media_Choice_Expansion_Three_Measurement_Strategies_and_Their_Implications
McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176-187. https://doi.org/10.1086/267990
Newman, N., Ross Arguedas, A., Robertson, C. T., Nielsen, R. K., & Fletcher, R. (2025). Digital News Report 2025. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2025
North, L. (2014). The gender of “soft” and “hard” news. Journalism Studies, 17(3), 356-373. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2014.987551
Oxford English Dictionary. OED Online. Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com
Peruško, Z. (2008). Mediji, kultura i civilno društvo (Media, Culture, and Civil Society). Jesenski i Turk.
Postman, N. (1985). Amusing ourselves to death: Public discourse in the age of show business. Viking Penguin.
Savolainen, R. (2022). Infotainment as a hybrid of information and entertainment: A conceptual analysis. Journal of Documentation, 78(6), 1137-1153. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-08-2021-0169
Thussu, D. K. (2007). News as entertainment: The rise of global infotainment. Sage Publications.
Vilović, G., & Car, V. (2017). Trust in media and journalistic credibility in Croatia: Audience perspectives. In Z. Peruško (Ed.), Media integrity matters: Reclaiming public service values in media and journalism (pp. 143-160). Peace Institute.
Yang, Y. (2024). The trend of media convergence and its impact in journalism and communication studies. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/380412764_The_Trend_of_Media_Convergence_and_its_Impact_in_Journalism_and_Communication_Studies
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Polish Communication Association
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
