Role of TV Debates in Presidential Campaigns: Croatia’s Case of 2005

Abstract

The author looks into the role of TV debates in presidential campaigns, how the pioneering attempt at their production in Croatia in 2005 was received by Croatian voters and how these TV debates differed from the American model. Namely, a novelty in the Croatian 2005 presidential campaign were three TV debates between the leading contenders, Sjepan Mesić and Jadranka Kosor, who competed in the run-off ballot. The debates were organized by the three national TV networks (HRT, RTL and Nova TV) and the ratings were high