The journalistic profession in Croatia has been struggling for years with numerous problems and negative trends that greatly affect the public perception of the profession itself. The paper describes the key difficulties and changes that have taken place in modern Croatian journalism, which have left their mark on the image of journalism among citizens. Given the lack of such research, the main goal of the online questionnaire is to examine how Croatian citizens currently perceive journalists and the journalistic profession in Croatia. The respondents pointed out that their trust in the media is quite low and that they do not consider journalism a desirable profession. They also describe journalists as biased workers prone to a sensationalist approach. On the other hand, respondents recognize the importance of higher education for journalists and the desirable social role of journalists. According to the abovementioned results, the image of journalism and journalists is currently in an unfavourable position. Additionally, managing the journalistic profession’s image is nowadays as necessary as managing the image of organizations or individuals. This research can be used to improve the profession and status of journalists, and it seeks to point out the need for reconstruction, which would result in a more positive reputation of journalism in Croatia.