Search results

Abstract
This article examines the transformation of the Serbian media landscape over the last two decades, by applying four analytical categories developed for identifying levels of media capture in different national contexts (Dragomir 2019). Implementation of diachronic document analysis provides rich descriptions of the media regulatory capture, grip over public service broadcasters, misuse of state advertising and project-based financing of media content, as well as endurance of state media ownership. Therefore, this study identifies some of the reasons behind recent decline of media freedoms in Serbia, adds elements for finding the right place for Serbia on the map of Central and Eastern European post-communist media transformations, and contributes to the growing literature aimed at understanding media capture in its many forms and variations across the globe.

In this article, we use the hierarchy-of-influences model as a framework for examining the ways in which media owners, managers and journalists perceive the influence exerted on their work during 12-year democratic transition in Serbia. We aim to explain how factors perceived as influential at the highest system level gradually transfer and relate to the factors on the subsumed levels. Using the concepts such as corruption and the culture of corruption to interpret hierarchy between different levels of influence on transitional journalism, we argue that coupling extra-media actors at the system level can be considered corruption – understood as abuse of power for personal gain or benefit of the aligned group – which translates to all other levels of influence.

The media play an important role in informing citizens about the process of EU integration. However recent research in the field shows that Serbian media coverage is mainly oriented towards protocol news and political process in highly positive tone. The aim of this paper is to highlight the picture of the EU represented by local media, since previous studies focused on national media content analyses. For this purpose survey with journalists from 41 local media outlets in different parts of Serbia has been done. Main research findings show that local media reporting is in line with mainstream national coverage. Journalists mostly rely on local governments and state institutions as sources of information. Stories are initiated by actual events and press conferences. Accordingly, political and economic topics prevail, while citizens and their everyday life remain on the margins of local media coverage. . ; Mediji imaju važnu ulogu u informisanju građana o procesu evropskih integracija, ali istraživanja rađena poslednjih godina pokazuju da mediji u Srbiji samo deklarativno, nekritički i protokolarno pristupaju evropskim temama. Cilj ovog rada je da prikaže kakvu sliku Evropske unije predstavljaju lokalni mediji, pošto su prethodnim analizama obuhvaćeni sadržaji nacionalnih medija. Način izveštavanja lokalnih medija o evropskim temama razmatra se na osnovu analize stavova novinara dobijenih anketom koja je sprovedena u 41 lokalnom mediju iz različitih krajeva Srbije. Glavni rezultati pokazuju da tretman evropskih tema u lokalnim medijima ne odstupa od dominantnog nacionalnog izveštavanja. Novinari kao izvore informacija najviše koriste organe lokalnih vlasti i državne institucije, a najčešći povod za izveštavanje su aktuelni i pseudo događaji. U skladu sa tim, preovlađuju dnevno-političke i ekonomske teme, a obični građani i njihov život ostaju van fokusa novinara lokalnih medija. .

The aim of this paper is to examine the level of achieved freedom of the media in Serbia, as well as the willingness of the journalistic community to resist external pressures and provide an answer to their basic professional mission with objectivity, timeliness, comprehensiveness and truthful reporting. Observation of the current professional developments is done through the type of media system that is characteristic of all post-communist countries. The answer to the question of whether after two decades of transition in Serbia there is an appropriate socio-political climate for achieving the ideals of journalism as defined by normative standards, will be sought through the operationalization of three sets of key indicators. The effects of political and economic pressures on the media, market conditions, as well as relevant standards within the professional community are considered through the use of structuralistic argumentation. With regards to the methodology, the work is based on secondary analysis of quantitative data obtained in the survey of journalists/editors and owners/managers, as well as, qualitative analysis of statements from four focus groups. Comparing the results of this study with the relevant indicators that measure press freedom, we can conclude that journalism has not reached the potential to guard democracy in Serbia. The current situation results in a politicized media system, the parallelism of political and economic pressures on the media, the dominance of sensationalism and tabloidization trend, and the journalistic profession without a clearly defined identity. ; Cilj ovog rada je da preispita nivo dostignutih sloboda za rad medija u Srbiji, kao i spremnost novinarske zajednice da se odupre spoljnim pritiscima i odgovori na osnovnu profesionalnu misiju objektivnim, pravovremenim, potpunim i istinitim izveštavanjem. Aktuelna profesionalna zbivanja neophodno je posmatrati kroz tip medijskog sistema koji je karakterističan za sve postkomunističke zemlje. Odgovor na pitanje da li nakon dvodecenijske tranzicije u Srbiji postoji adekvatna društveno-politička klima za ostvarenje ideala novinarstva definisanog normativnim zahtevima, potražićemo operacionalizacijom tri seta ključnih indikatora. Dejstvo političkih i ekonomskih pritisaka na rad medija, uslovi tržišta, kao i važeći standardi unutar profesionalne zajednice razmatraju se upotrebom strukturalističke argumentacije. Metodološki, rad je baziran na sekundarnoj analizi kvantitativnih podataka dobijenih anketiranjem novinara/urednika i vlasnika/menadžera, kao i kvalitativnom obradom izjava iz četiri fokus grupe. Komparirajući rezultate ovog istraživanja sa relevantnim indeksima koji mere slobodu medija, možemo zaključiti da se novinarstvo još uvek ne može smatrati 'doraslim' čuvarom demokratije u Srbiji. Ovakvo stanje uzrokuje politizovan medijski sistem, paralelizam političkih i ekonomskih pritisaka na rad medija, dominacija senzacionalizma i trend tabloidizacije, kao i činjenica da je novinarska profesija bez jasno određenog identiteta.

Historically, the role of journalism in society is bound to the prevailing conceptualization of the freedom of the press, specific societal, institutional, and material conditions of news production. This study explores self-perceptions of journalists working in the period of socialist Yugoslavia and synthetizes their recollections of journalistic orientations and performances with respect to journalism's place in society. The study is based on the oral history interviews with former journalists, who worked also as editors and foreign correspondents from late 1950s to 1990s at the news agency Tanjug, which was considered the information backbone of the federal media system in Yugoslavia and had considerable international relevance. By combining 'journalistic roles' studies as well as 'occupational life history' research this historical study makes twofold contribution. First, it identifies adaptive strategies of remembering used by the interviewed journalists to legitimize themselves as professionals and relevant interpreters of SFRY journalism. Second, it reveals more nuances within common, often simplified understandings of journalists as collaborators with power during socialism, and highlights roles of privileged disseminator, monitoring analyst, and educator as specific manifestations of collaborative function of journalism.

This paper builds on the framing theory and its paradigm related to media coverage of protests. Protests are considered as multidimensional phenomena with important visual manifestations both at the time they take place and in later treatment in the media. The aim of this research was to contribute to understanding of visual framing of protests in Serbian media. For that purpose, we analyzed "Against the Dictatorship" protest held after presidential elections in 2017. Our analysis was focused on TV news aired on RTS1, B92, Pink and N1, photographs published in print outlets Kurir, Informer, Vecernje novosti, Politika and Danas, and photos from Web sites blic.rs and telegraf.rs. The method of content analysis was used to examine the representation of visual frames of violence, performance, legitimization and delegitimization, and social semiotics to analyze the content of frames. Results of our study show that the mediascape in Serbia is divided between outlets which positively represent protests and others which frequently use negative frames of violence and delegitimization. More than other frames, visual performance is linked with newsrooms' work routines and focuses on the visual attractiveness of the event, while legitimization and delegitimization frames reflect political bias and editorial policies of certain media outlets. ; U radu se polazi od teorije uokvirivanja i unutar nje formulisane paradigme o medijskom izveštavanju o protestima. Protesti se posmatraju kao višedimenzionalni fenomeni u kojima je vizuelni izraz važan kako tokom protesta, tako i u njegovoj kasnijoj masmedijskoj obradi. Cilj ovog rada je da doprinese razumevanju vizuelnog medijskog uokvirivanja protesta, na osnovu studije slučaja protesta Protiv diktature koji je organizovan u Srbiji posle predsedničkih izbora 2017. godine. Analizom je obuhvaćeno izveštavanje televizija RTS 1, B92, Pink i N1, štampanih izdanja Kurira, Informera, Večernjih novosti, Politike i Danasa, i sajtova Blic.rs, Telegraf.rs. Metodom analize sadržaja ispitana je zastupljenost vizuelnih okvira nasilja, performativnosti, legitimisanja i delegitimisanja, a iz ugla socijalne semiotike kvalitativno je analiziran sadržaj ovih okvira. Rezultati pokazuju da je medijska scena podeljena između medija koji proteste prikazuju pozitivno i onih koji frekventno koriste negativne okvire nasilja i delegitimisanja. Za vizuelni performativni okvir može se reći da više od ostalih odslikava rutinu rada redakcija i stavlja u fokus vizuelnu atraktivnost događaja, dok se okvir legitimisanja i delegitimisanja pre mogu pripisati političkoj pristrasnosti i uređivačkoj politici određenih medija.

This chapter focuses on trends in reporting over time. It examines the presence of populist key messages in European newspapers coverage of immigration and commentaries on current political events, at two points in time, spring 2016 and spring 2017. The chapter explores the similarities and differences in the populist content of newspapers between the two periods and identifies a set of extra-media and intra-media explanatory factors contributing to the understanding of the emerging differences in a year-to-year comparison. The findings show that the presence of populism in news and commentaries in some countries is loosely related to actual migration dynamics (see Germany and Greece), whereas in other countries it seems to follow more intensive political debates, although actual immigration is less dramatic (Bulgaria, Poland). There are fewer indications than expected that the populist tendencies in news and commentaries are a reaction to the intensity with which the population views immigration as an important national issue or is dissatisfied with decisions by political elites. Finally, there are strong indications of the great importance of intra-media factors in explaining populism in news and commentary.