The media is, for a reason, accompanied by the voice of powerful forces. Through newer history - especially in the second half of the 20th century – the media played a powerful, if not a crucial role in the evolution of the modern society. The subject of interest of journalistic work and creation has always been oriented mostly towards politics and political systems. The consequences of that was the interest of politicians and politics pointed at the media, in this case printed, which were, alongside television and radio, the most important source of informing the public. Therefore, the media were under more or less visible pressure from politics. The fight of the media for the independence from politics is still present. This is indicated by the constant analysis of the state of freedom in the media by domestic profession societies and international bodies who follow the state of democracy and freedom in the media all around the globe. Turning events in society leave a strong, visible mark on each individual era of a community, actually a country. This paper will try, based on the available archive clippings from the press in the periods of interest, to capture and analyze two different historical moments in a span of almost two decades, which, according to all accessible sources, are clearly still in the vivid memory of Croatian citizens: the deaths of two presidents, Josip Broz Tito and Franjo Tuđman. Josip Broz Tito was the president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for almost four decades. Yugoslavia included six republics and two autonomous provinces. In the media sense – which will be clear in the further analysis of this paper - he marked his period with a rather rigorous media control that came from a one-party political system. Tito died 1980, and only a decade after his death, Yugoslavia fell apart as a multinational state union. Franjo Tuđman was the first president of the Republic of Croatia, from 1990 to 1999, when he died. His period, in a media sense, in one hand marked the further political pressure on the media, and in the other – what was the repercussion of pluralistic political system and parliamentary democracy - gradually relinquishment of political pressures on the media and iii the increasing occurrence of the opponent way of thinking through written word in print media. That process of media democratization in Tuđman’s time had only just begun and it wasn’t even nearly done during his presidency. The analysis is done through available printed articles from the mentioned historical moments from May 1980. and November and December 1999. The goal of this analysis is to spot both a link and a difference in reports and comments in both events. The approach to the theme, writing style, open or hidden messages in newspaper articles and visual support for newspaper texts will also be analyzed. The answers on following questions are attempted: 1. How were these two events covered by the media in terms of news importance? 2. What is the relation between political climate that prevailed in those moments and media access to the facts considering two presidents’ deaths? 3. What are the fundamental differences in the media coverage of Tito and Tuđman’s death? 4. Were the press media professional in terms of objectivity and impartial approach and to what extent the state policies influenced the printed media in reporting on the deaths of two presidents? 5. To what extent did printed media create or participate in the creation of the cults of personalities of the two presidents? The center of attention of this study is not political or historical significance of Tito and Tuđman, but merely a journalistic analysis of available articles that have been carefully read to be interpreted from a time distance. In this study, as a kind of prolonged introduction, a brief analysis of the term cult of personality is also given, as well as its creation and key features. The contribution and role of media in process of creating the cult of personality of political leaders is unquestionable.