Newspapers Published by Croats in New South Wales: From Print Environment to Social Networking Sites

ABSTRACT

First Croatian immigrants came to Australia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and today, they are a significant part of Australian multicultural society. Due to specific information needs, Croats of NSW began publishing newspapers in the Croatian language in the 1920s. The paper presents communication of Croatian immigrants in NSW through serial publications, on the examples of newspapers before WWII, between WWII and 1990 and after 1990. After 1990, in addition to newspapers, communication on social networking sites is analysed. Selected newspapers and presence on social networking sites show publication and editorial models, types of publishers, languages of publication and interactions with readers. The availability of publications in libraries is analysed.

KEYWORDS:

• Croats
• immigrants
• libraries
• New South Wales
• newspapers
• social networking sites

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Renata Dyer and Jasna Novak Milić for their help in collecting data for the research presented in the paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ivana Hebrang Grgić

Ivana Hebrang Grgić is an associate professor at the Department of Information Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. Her courses are on graduate and post graduate level (History of Book and Libraries, Book Publishing, Scientific Journals and Communication, Library Collections…). She is an active member of the Croatian Library Association where she worked as an editor-in-chief of the series Croatian Librarianship. She has written five books and many journal articles. She also regularly participates in conferences. Her newest book, about publishing activities of Croats in New Zealand, is a result of a research into Croatian publications abroad. She has won several national and international awards, including the European Network of Academic Integrity Award (2018) and the annual State Award for Higher Education (2019).