This thesis is an examination of enski list, arguably the first magazine published exclusively for women between the wars in Croatia, and Yugoslavia. To fully understand the place, meaning and the impact of this magazine on everyday lives of its readers, with the study of the content I also include examination of the role of its editor and the first Croatian woman journalist Marija Jurić Zagorka. Finally, this thesis examines readers' responses to the content, their opinions, interactions between the readers and the editor, as well as interactions between the readers themselves for the overall assessment of the significance of enski list in the history of popular women's press in Croatia, and Yugoslavia. This thesis is a historical project which uses two theoretical approaches to study of media: feminist political economic approach, and the feminist critique of the public sphere. By combining these two theoretical standpoints I illuminated some of the ways in which media participate in everyday lives of people, specifically marginalized groups, in this case women. Situating the study within the historical context of the interwar Yugoslavia, and interwar Europe was important for understanding of this project, and its research questions. In this study I used multiple methods: (a) textual; (b) historical and biographical and, (c) audience study. In the larger part of this study which is a narrative discourse analysis of the content of enski list, I was also inspired by the interpretive ethnography of texts. I connected ethnography to feminist theory and political economy, to circumstances of gendered everyday practices and to circumstances of media culture production, all within the specific historical context. In this study I found that women in the changing socio-political and economic context expressed their relation to capitalism and modernity in different ways, sometimes exerting their critiques and the refusal of the existing patriarchal structures and sometimes seeking inclusion within the structures, with the intent to practice primarily gender equality by direct participation. Finally, the analysis of enski list has told an important story of the place of media, and the women's press in particular, in initiating, carrying, and challenging traditional and emerging discourses in the hope that they would contribute to the ways in which society can be imagined differently.

Questa tesi è composta di quattro capitoli, aventi come comune denominatore lo studio dell’economia dei media. Il primo capitolo fornisce una rassegna della letteratura teorica riguardante l’economia politica dei media con maggiore enfasi sulle economie emergenti. Il secondo capitolo analizza il ruolo dell’economia politica di “media capture”. È presentato un modello dinamico d’interazione tra media e audience che contempla la possibilità di compensazioni illecite da parte del governo in carica. Il modello sviluppato produce una serie d’intuizioni interessanti circa la relazione tra caratteristiche dell’industria dell’informazione, “media capture”, ed esiti elettorali. Il terzo capitolo studia come il meccanismo d’incentivazione per i potenziali candidati politici è influenzato dall’industria dell’informazione. È presentata un’estensione del modello cittadino-candidato proposto da Osborne e Slivinski (1997) e Besley e Coate (1997) attraverso l’introduzione di costi eterogenei associati alla candidatura elettorale. L’ultimo capitolo esamina la relazione tra i mezzi d’informazione e concentrazione politica guardando all’introduzione e alla diffusione di internet ad alta velocità agli inizi del ventunesimo secolo negli Stati Uniti. L’evidenza di causalità presentata dimostra come la diffusione di internet abbia aumentato fenomeni di estremismo ideologico negli Stati Uniti nella storia recente da parte dei rappresentanti politici. / This thesis consists of four self-contained chapters. The four chapters have the common denominator that they all deal with political economics of media. In the first chapter I review theoretical literature on politics of media with focus on emerging economies. In the second chapter I analyze political economy of media capture. I introduce dynamic model of media and audience relationship with the possibility of side payments from the incumbent government. The model developed here produces a number of interesting insights in the relationship between features of the media industry, media capture, and political outcomes. In the third chapter I study how the incentive mechanism for potential political candidates to emerge and run for the office is shaped by the media environment. I extend the original citizen-candidate model proposed by Osborne and Slivinski (1997) and Besley and Coate (1997) by introducing heterogeneous costs associated with running for the office. The last chapter examines links between media and political polarization by looking at the introduction and diffusion of high speed internet at the onset of the 21st century in the United States. I provide causal evidence that internet diffusion has increased ideological extremism of US representatives in the recent history.

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