New Zealand Croatian immigrant press 1899-1916

The focus of the present work is on role and functions that Croatian immigrant press played in interaction with their readership and the host society. The work combines the methods of quantitative and qualitative content analysis. It establishes a detailed composition of the content of these papers. The relative contribution of different categories of content in the composition of each paper is then used as a basis for an assessment of the editorial policies and the role and functions of each paper. In general all papers under investigation, to a more or less extent, served dual role by providing information about the host society while at the same time encouraging loyalty to the homeland. They had also satisfied a much wider range of unanticipated social, political and emotional needs. They functioned as educational agencies, channels for local news or an instrument of social control.In addition a number of articles are for the first time translated in the English language and as a such provide a rare glimpse into the world of the Croatian immigrant at the beginning of the 20th century. This work should contribute to the larger knowledge of the New Zealand print culture.