Mass media in Croatian media space is generally defined according to profitability and is based on the definition of mass media as industrial and commercial organisation that does not produce and distribute information but goods; in that situation hidden advertising appears in terms of income decreasing ( especially during political campaigns); that kind of situation is in direct contradiction with media freedom as crucial pre-condition of ethical principles achievement. On the example of the analysis of media content published in electronic and printed media during the campaign carried out in 2013. – local elections in Lika-senj county, this work will show how complex are ethical doubts that journalists meet in open societies in which media freedom is very large; point out the proportion and examples of ethical standards violation and destabilisation of the border between good and bad taste by violation of privacy, augment of information damage by unfair reporting, and publisher or interest groups pressure which results in placing incomplete, subjective, biased or incorrect information to the public. The aim of this work is to (by methods of incomplete induction, deduction, description, analysis and sample method) indicate on insufficient balance of media content between Croatian and European Union regulatives, the lack of critical public opinion in media reporting and insufficient adopted freedom and responsibilities in media content creation.

ethics, media content, hidden advertising, elections