Volume III, Issue 2/2017 ISSN: 2406-274X Analysis of the print media in Serbia April - June QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER 02|2017 QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Analysis of the print media in Serbia QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Editorial staff Analysis of the print media in Serbia Milana Brisić CONTENT Volume III, Issue 2/2017 Vladimir Abramović ISSN 2406-274X Aleksandra Milićević Marija Benke Published by Public Policy Institute Belgrade Cover design and prepress Kneza Miloša 68 Pavle Farčić E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.ijp.rs Print Instant System Belgrade For publisher Vladimir Popović 1 Velimir Ćurgus Kazimir: Editors in Chief INTRODUCTION Vladimir Popović Velimir Ćurgus Kazimir 2 Isidora Jarić, Danica Laban: SAMPLE 3 Isidora Jarić, Danica Laban: RESEARCH RESULTS 4 Dejan Vuk Stanković: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS 5 ABOUT AUTHORS CIP - Каталогизација у публикацији Народна библиотека Србије, Београд 659.3 QUARTERLY mediameter : analysis of the print media in Serbia / editors in chief Vladimir Popović, Velimir Ćurgus Kazimir. - Vol. 1, Issue 1 (2015)- . - Belgrade : Public Policy Institute (Belgrade : Instant System). - 24 cm Tromesečno. - Ima izdanje na drugom jeziku: Kvartalni Mediaametar = ISSN 2406-2707 ISSN 2406-274X = Quarterly mediameter COBISS.SR-ID 215100940 4 5 QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Analysis of the print media in Serbia Introduction 18 9 QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Analysis of the print media in Serbia VELIMIR ĆURGUS KAZIMIR news genres, are present in this quarter as well. In this sense, it seems that we can talk about the most characteristic genre of today’s press. Daily newspapers are sovereignly dominated by reports (about 75%), while the news almost completely disappeared (with INTRODUCTION only 1.05%). This order of things has a very simple explanation - the press cannot compete with the Internet and electronic media when it comes to the news content. This is why the media portals of the newspapers we analyzed are much richer in content then their front Expecting the new Government pages. The largest number of reports was made by Informer (95.1%), and the smallest by Politika (56.13%). Politika had the highest number of articles (22.88%), while Alo! had no published articles on the front page whatsoever. Interviews are most popular in Danas (11.84%), and the least in Informer (1.47%). The presence, or lack thereof, of certain genres, confirms the nature and type of newspapers that have been analyzed. In the spring after the elections, main topics in Serbia were the floods and the selection of the future Prime Minister. Media are naturally interested in whether the floods will be Politics and political life always remain on the front pages in Serbia. Politics sets the pace disastrous, but even more who will the new Prime Minister be. In June, Ana Brnabić was and the meaning of life in which the print media are shaped. In this period, there was less appointed as the new PM. In the period of three months analyzed by Quarterly Mediameter, economy and crime. Kosovo, the region and economy continue to be present, as subjects from April to June 2017, Ana Brnabić climbed on the third place of the most popular public of about 7% articles. The media, however, were the topics themselves. This is related to a figures on the front pages of daily newspapers in Serbia. She pushed Tomislav Nikolić to conflict between TV Pink, Kurir and Informer. There is a war fought with headlines and mu- the fourth place. tual threats. Media of balance in these two newspapers doesn’t exist- in Informer 98.04%, and in Kurir 91.88% of published articles are unbalanced. In this issue of Mediameter, a total of 2091 texts published on the front pages of seven daily newspapers were analyzed. As in the previous nine calendar quarters, the same meth- The triggers are still largely induced by the editorial staff (26.26%). The Government of Ser- odological apparatus was applied in the analysis of the empirical data. A single text was bia and the ruling party are the trigger in about a quarter of the texts, while the opposition chosen for the subject of analysis. Analysis itself represents the combination of two re- initiated 3.78% of the articles. Almost 81% of the articles are not balanced. At the same search methods: (a) content analysis, which was guided by a „specific theoretical and hy- time, there is an increasing percentage of published articles from unnamed sources. pothetical frame... creating an objective and sysTopictic empirical collection of the social communication content, which enables the formation of relevant conclusions about the There were fewer texts on the European Union and Russia, although the press is still more social context in which the communication takes part,”1 and (b) a discourse analysis which critical of the EU than of Russia. 36.25% of the articles are value-oriented, which is a sign enabled us to understand various, epistemologically and methodologically immeasurable, of a strong newsroom affiliation. Rhetoric, of course, is very different. And that too is a part 2 authors’ interpretative strategies and editorial policies which reflect perceptions of dif- of editorial policy and media strategy. ferent, primarily ideological and political, discourse realities, by analyzing their specific discourse meanings. No matter how short the time since she became the Prime Minister (on June 15th she re- ceived the mandate to form the Government, on 29th June the Government was made) still In the interpretative sense, in order to offer better coherence of the text, the analysis is, as in that period there were no negative articles about her. This was quite surprising having in in the previous reports, divided into two wholes which refer to: (a) analysis of quantitative mind the media atmosphere in Serbia. At least for a while. It seems that in relation to the indicators collected using content analysis, and (b) discourse analysis of the qualitative media not much has changed. content excerpted from texts which were included in the research sample. The tendencies observed in the previous quarters, in terms of representation of different 1 S. Gredelj, S onu stranu ogledala [On the other side of the mirror], Beograd: Istraživačko-izdavački centar SSO Srbije, 1986, 19 2 G. Couvalis, The Philosophy of Science, London, Sage Publications, 1997. 10 11 QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Analysis of the print media in Serbia Sample 212 13 QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Analysis of the print media in Serbia Chart 1 – Večernje novosti2 ISIDORA JARIĆ, DANICA LABAN 2.93 Sample Other Total number of selected As stated in earlier publications, the basic idea of the project Mediameter is to try to recon- front-page texts struct media reality of the dailies in Serbia, the way it can be defined considering the texts Total number of front-page that are positioned (wholly or partially) on front pages, as various reflections of current po- texts that were not selected litical events and circumstances in both Serbia and the world. A sample of the dailies was composed considering two selection criteria – the largest circulation and reputation of the print media. Daily newspaper circulation data were taken from a research done by IPSOS.1 Source: Mediameter research, The front page is the part of the dailies that the readers connect the most with the identity/ April - June 2017 recognition of a media outlet. It is often responsible for the first impression, our potential affection or repulsion formed about some printed media. The front page comes into contact not only with the readers of that particular paper, but also the people who will perhaps never touch that paper. Through newspaper and TV advertising and shop windows, the front page reaches a wider auditorium than that forming the readers of individual dailies. The front pages, hence form, in a certain way, the public image of the newspaper which symbolizes its editorial policy, evaluative orientation and targeting of certain audiences. On account of the Chart 2 – Informer3 above-mentioned reasons, the front pages of dailies from our sample were in the focus of analysis of the project Mediameter. 3.46 Texts from front pages reflect best the coordinates of editorial policies of daily print edi- Other tions. Though this involves a small percentage of texts, editorial identity of a daily can be UkupanNo selektovanih most easily identified through messages conveyed through front pages. The ratio of the total tekstova na naslovnici number of texts in each daily individually and the number of texts from the front pages that Total number of front-page were included in the sample of our research are shown in the charts 1-7, for the period from texts that were not selected 1st April to 30th June 2017. Source: Mediameter research, April - June 2017 1 Research of the average scope of the daily print media was done for the period from January 8th to February 15th 2 For more information see Table 96 in the Appendix 2017, population: total individuals 3 For more information see Table 97 in the Appendix 14 15 QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Analysis of the print media in Serbia Chart 3 – Alo!4 Chart 5 – Politika6 3.75 4.31 Other Other Total number of selected Total number of selected front-page texts front-page texts Total number of front-page Total number of front-page texts that were not selected texts that were not selected Source: Mediameter research, Source: Mediameter research, April - June 2017 April - June 2017 Chart 4 – Blic5 Chart 6 – Danas7 2.5 7.31 Other Other Total number of selected front- Total number of selected page texts front-page texts Total number of front-page Total number of front-page texts that were not selected texts that were not selected Source: Mediameter research, Source: Mediameter research, April - June 2017 April - June 2017.