Prof. Melita Poler Kovačič, PhD.
Melita Poler Kovačič is Professor of Journalism Studies at the Chair of Journalism at the Faculty for Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana and a Researcher at the Social Communication Research Center (CDK).
Melita Poler, PhD in Communication Sciences, is Professor of Journalism Studies at the Chair of Journalism, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. She teaches two undergraduate courses (Introduction to Journalism; Journalism Ethics), and two graduate courses (Journalism, Ethics, and Professionalism; Contemporary Problems of Journalism). At the Social Communication Research Centre, she is a member of the research group Mass Media, the Public Sphere and Social Changes.
She has participated in several research projects and was head of two research projects: Media in Plural Society (2002–2003) and Journalism and the Internet: Political, Economic, and Cultural Perspectives of Technological Transformations of the Contemporary Journalism (2013–2016). Currently, she participates in two national projects – Reconfiguring Journalism Amidst the Rise of the Attention Economy and the Decline of the Public Sphere (2021–2024), and Media Landscape in Slovenia between Pluralisation and Homogenisation (2022–2025), and the EU project Fostering Capacity Building for Civic Resilience and Participation: Dialogic Communication Ethics and Accountability (2023–2026).
Her research interests include freedom of expression-related issues in the context of journalism, particularly journalism ethics and self-regulation.
She has published over 60 articles in scientific journals, including Journalism Studies; Journalism Practice; Digital Journalism; Journalism; Journal of Mass Media Ethics; Javnost/The Public; and European Journal of Communication. She is the author of over 15 chapters in scientific monographs. She is an executive editor of Croatian scientific journal Medijska istraživanja/Media Research, a member of the expert group of Media Pluralism Monitor at the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (European University Institute, Florence), and a member of the Advisory Board of ADMO (Adria Digital Media Observatory) at the University of Dubrovnik.
Recent publications
1
Kerševan, Tanja in Melita Poler Kovačič. 2023. Silencing Journalists in Matters of Public Interest: Journalists and Editors’ Assessments of the Impact of SLAPPs on Journalism. Journalism, DOI: 10.1177/14648849231210695
2
Poler Kovačič, Melita. 2022. Normative role orientations of Yugoslav journalists: a study of journalism ethics codes in the SFRY. Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino, 62, 1, 64–81.
3
Milosavljević, Marko, Melita Poler Kovačič in Rok Čeferin. 2020. In the Name of the Right to Be Forgotten: New Legal and Policy Issues and Practices Regarding Unpublishing Requests in Slovenian Online News Media. Digital Journalism, 8, 6, 780–796.
4
Milosavljević, Marko in Melita Poler Kovačič. 2018. Balkanization and Pauperization: Analysis of Media Capture of Public Service Broadcasters in the Western Balkans. Journalism, 19, 8, 1149–1164.