Suchergebnisse

The paper analyses the development of journalism from practice to theory and outlines the stages in the formation of the science of journalism or novitology. As an interdisciplinary, synthetic science, novitology connects everyday journalistic practice and meta-theoretical deliberations on the scope and the potential of journalism as a social function. While cogitating on the general tasks of journalism, the author focuses on the creation of news, their dissemination, fostering awareness of the methodological instruments, the moral dimensions of journalism, and the modern media technology. All these chain-links should be connected in the journalistic science; also, the relationships and inter-relations among universal, particular, and individual disciplines within the system of novitology should be analysed by means of a systematic methodology. (SOI : PM: S. 221)

This article deals with an analysis of the relations among communicology, novitology, and journalism as the practice of public communication. Communicoloy is defined as a general science on public communication (philosophy of communication), novitology as a specific science dealing with all the singularities of mass communication by means of the mass media (radio, newspapers, television, and the new media), while journalism as practice is defined by means of the methodology of direct journalistic activities. This leads to the introduction of epistemiological order into a number of sciences Also, misunderstandings and overlappings are avoided, as well as totally erroneous attitudes pernicious for the theory of public communication and journalism as the practice of public polylogue in the media. (SOI : PM: S. 214)

What are today's mass media like? Are they objective enough or are consumers too fatidious? How topical the issues of the freedom of the media, truth, and objectivity are? The author has tried to provide the answers by looking into the norms and regulations in Croatia and abroad, beginning with the Code of Honour of the Croatian Association of Journalists, the documents of the Council of Europe and the famous First Amendment to the US Constitution. + A probe into the freedoms of American journalism shows that there are no all-inclusive recipes and that these freedoms must be fought for and won. The best way to secure the right to the freedom of speech is to consistently respect the standards of professional journalism. However, our experience and practice show that this aspect is most lacking. Particularly interesting is how these problems were noticed by Croatian journalists Frano Folnegovic and Bogoslav Sulek more than a century ago. Apart from the political restrictions and pressures, Croatian journalists do not pay enough attention to this respect for the standards of professional journalism, which can best be illustrated by the example of the catastrophe of that American plane near Dubrovnik, when some media reported not only that the plane had safely landed but published the late Secretary's statement. Only by strictly respecting professional standards, which may be achieved through constant improvement, study and research, the preconditions for objective and authentic reporting may be realised. (SOI : PM: S. 165) + Civil society has set up many commissions, councils and committees with the aim of controlling mass media so that they would not only be a profit-amassing industry but would also conform to the fundamental demands that are put on journalism

In a totalitarian society, the journalist profession could not grow; that is why politics still takes precedence in Croatian journalism. The journalists have remained socio-political activists. This has stunted the professional development of the journalistic profession, so that Croatian journalists cannot separate truth from fallacy, they equate (accurate) facts and (truthful) opinion, and conceive of commentaries in a rather odd way - as the ultimate and subjective journalistic form. (SOI : PM: S. 185)

The author describes the basic features of the work in the Journalistic Workshop as a specific format of promoting journalistic knowledge and skills. After the two-year collaboration of three generations of young journalists with a group of Croatian and foreign media experts, a survey was conducted about the usefulness of this Workshop. The results are included in this article. The central conclusion is that a big majority of the participating journalists highly appreciated the knowledge gained through it. Particularly encouraging is the fact that most respondents have been able to use this knowledge regardless of the type of media they are working for (whether those state-controlled or opposition-controlled). The participants think that the responsibility for the impossibility of using the professional standards in journalism lies with "editors afraid of any changes" or "owners weary of any changes". The respondents included young journalists with little work experience, mostly undergraduates. These facts are significant for their attitudes about the professional training within the Workshop or some other form of training. All of them want to learn and enhance their professional expertise. Also, the Workshop served as an incentive for the participants: after the three-month journalistic training, eight of them enrolled at the Faculty of Political Science, Department of Journalism. (SOI : PM: S. 227)

Nothing is more prone to errors than newspapers. Croatian newspapers (dailies, magazines and a few journals) were studied during a several- month period in 1997. The review is not comprehensive, nor have all the pages been scanned, since this would require a sort of analysis for which there were no necessary funds nor researchers. Nevertheless, the picture of the typical newspaper errors is all-inclusive. The errors which are a result of haste, hard working conditions and obsolete technology are bearable and excusable. However, flagrant carelessness shows disrespect for readers and the profession. Even worse is ignorance. Journalism is advancing fast, but there are certain well-known basics which can be easily learned. There is no excuse for ignorance-based errors, as there is no justification for a surgeon who would - due to ignorance - amputate a healthy instead of a diseased leg. But, what to say about the intentional, deliberate distortion of facts? It is unforgivable not to inform the public about the opinions of the President or the Governor of National Bank or to give a true dimension to a crime. This side of journalism must be rectified by educated professionals who respect the rules of the profession and whose primary concern are not ideological connotations and drifts. (SOI : PM: S. 198)

Reporters' work from a country at war sooner or later gets subjected to censorship. That the job of war correspondents is dangerous has been proved by the number of journalists who get killed every year and by certain "rules of wartime journalism". The article looks into some forms of wartime censorship in the earlier NATO military actions, describes the censorship during the aggression on the Republic of Croatia, and on the basis of the available information, deals with the relevant situation in SR Yugoslavia. At the time when this article was written (May 1999), NATO's military intervention in that country was still going on; consequently, the newspaper censorship was still very much in force there. (SOI : S. 135)