»Zašto djeca nisu oduzeta na vrijeme? «: Analiza medijskih izvještaja o socijalnim radnicima povodom medijski eksponiranih slučajeva zlostavljanja djeteta

Abstract

During the last several years, the Croatian public has been shaken by tragic violent events involving children within the family. In 2017 a mother killed her threeyear-old son, and in 2019 a father attempted to murder his four minor children. When such things occur, the media and the public try to determine why they were not prevented and who is responsible for their prevention, and the ones who are most frequently considered as responsible are social workers. The aim of this research is to analyse discursive constructions (narratives, rhetorical techniques) within media articles on social workers on the occasion of high-profile cases of child abuse. Discursive psychology was used as an analysis method. 76 articles published on the most frequented news portals in Croatia were analysed. The portals were selected on the basis of the number of actual users according to the data by Gemius Rating and a Reuters survey of users’ self-reports about visiting web sites. The analysed articles were published in the period from May 24, 2017 to October24, 2018 and in the period from February 28, 2019 to July 1, 2019. Results indicate that in reporting on critical events of child abuse the most frequent narrative in the media is “inadequate action of social workers”. In that narrative the media and the public criticise social workers for failure to provide adequate protection to children and consider that they are not professional enough. In response to that narrative, there are narratives about “social workers as the victims of inadequate system”, “social welfare system in crisis”, and “positive attitude towards social workers”. Within these narratives, social workers and professional organisations educate the public on shortcomings and difficulties within the social welfare system that hinder the work of social workers, which can lead to violations of the users’ rights. They also call upon relevant authorities to undertake necessary reforms. Social workers are characterised as professional and committed to their work. Two additional narratives also appear: “problems in public services” and “a call for making changes”. In the narrative about problems in public services, lawyers and judges mention problems in court proceedings related to the protection of the rights of children, but they also question the knowledge and professionalism of social workers. In the narrative about the need to make changes, professional organisations demand that the authorities and the public turn towards reforms instead of criticism of social workers. Key words: social work; media; child abuse; discursive psychology