2016 Analysis of the Print Media in Serbia October
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Analysis of the print media in Serbia October - December 04|2016 Volume II, Issue 4/2016 ISSN: 2406-274X Analysis of the print media in Serbia October - December QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER 04|2016 QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Analysis of the print media in Serbia QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Editorial staff Analysis of the print media in Serbia Milana Brisić Content Volume II, Issue 4/2016 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, Veli- mir Ćurgus Kazimir. - Vol. 1, Issue 1 (2015)- . - Belgrade : Public Policy Institute (Belgrade : Instant System). - 24 cm Tromesečno. - Ima izdanje na drugom jeziku: Kvartalni medijametar = 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 The fact that best characterizes the year 2016 is that one quarter of all published front page texts deals with various plots of local political scene, which are most often, either directly or indirectly, connected with endless electoral processes. Everything else is pushed aside, economy, culture, socially significant topics...even the elections that are going on around us, like those in America, inside the media discourse of Serbian daily newspapers take on only a single function: to be connected in some form with our incoming, future elections. INTRODUCTION: As in the previous seven calendar quarters, the same methodological apparatus was applied in the analysis of the empirical data. A single text was chosen for the subject of analysis. Analysis itself represents the combination of two research methods: (a) content analysis, From Elections to Elections which was guided by a „specific theoretical and hypothetical frame... creating an objective and systematic empirical collection of the social communication content, which enables the formation of relevant conclusions about the social context in which the communication takes part,”1 and (b) a discourse analysis which enabled us to understand various, epistemo- logically and methodologically unmeasurable,2 authors’ interpretative strategies and editori- al policies which reflect perceptions of different, primarily ideological and political, discourse realities, by analyzing their specific discourse meanings. In the interpretative sense, in order to offer better coherence of the text, the analysis is, as in the previous reports, divided into two wholes which refer to: (a) analysis of quantitative indi- cators collected using content analysis, and (b) discourse analysis of the qualitative content excerpted from texts which were included in the research sample. With the last calendar quarter (September – December) of 2016, we have not only covered the whole year, but also gained a much more precise and clearer picture of the role and sig- nificance of the daily press in Serbia. Politics has the absolute priority and domination over all of the other topics and areas of everyday life. The fact that in Serbia election campaigns start long before the very Election Day is determined represents both the extreme politiciza- tion of the media, as well as the outspoken and silent expectations of the public itself. This is best illustrated by the popularity of the newspapers that follow this editorial policy, which is obviously not receding. Attitude towards the regional topics is continually negative, and far from being dependent only on the regular memorial manifestations in the vein of “Srebrenica” and “Oluja”. Even though the Serbian media, naturally, do not lead the foreign policy, they certainly have a significant influence on the formation of the public opinion and the public’s expectations regarding the decision makers. It is interesting that the decreasing enthusiasm for the region is accompanied by the increase in judiciary, police force and crime related topics. Criminal acts and their perpetrators receive an undeservedly high publicity. In such a constellation of topics and interests it is difficult to find personas that impress with their consistency and unrelenting morals and principals. Even if they do appear, most often they bear the burden of tendentious political interpretations. The journalists believe less and 1 S. Gredelj, S onu stranu ogledala [On the other side of the mirror], Beograd: Istraživačko-izdavački centar SSO Srbije, less in their work, since the appropriate response is lacking. Expiration date of sensational 1986, 19 stories is getting shorter, even though it may seem like they are gaining in strength. 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 ISIDORA JARIĆ, DANICA LABAN Chart 1 – Večernje novosti 2.77 SAMPLE Other Total number of selected front-page texts As stated in earlier publications, the basic idea of the project Mediameter is to try to reconstruct media Total number of front-page reality of the dailies in Serbia, the way it can be defined considering the texts that are positioned (wholly texts that were not selected or partially) on front pages, as various reflections of current political events and circumstances in both Serbia and the world. A sample of the dailies was composed considering two selection criteria – the Source: Mediameter research, largest circulation and reputation of the print media. Daily newspaper circulation data were taken from a October - December 2016 research done by IPSOS.1 The front page is the part of the dailies that the readers connect the most with the identity/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 above-mentioned reasons, the front pages of dailies from our sample were in the focus of analysis of the project Mediameter. Chart 2 – Informer Texts from front pages reflect best the coordinates of editorial policies of daily print editions. Though 3.92 this involves a small percentage of texts, editorial identity of a daily can be most easily identified through messages conveyed through front pages. The ratio of the total number of texts in each daily individually and the number of texts from the front pages that were included in the sample of our research are shown Other in the charts 1-7, for the period from 1st October to 31th December 2016. Total number of selected front-page texts Total number of front-page texts that were not selected Source: Mediameter research, October - December 2016 1 Research of the average scope of the daily print media was done for the period from May 3rd 2016 to June 30th 2016, population: total individuals 14 15 QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Analysis of the print media in Serbia Chart 3 – Alo! Chart 5 – Politika 3.86 5.5 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, October - December 2016 October - December 2016 Chart 4 – Blic Chart 6 – Danas 3.14 7.23 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, October - December 2016 October - December 2016 16 17 QUARTERLY MEDIAMETER Analysis of the print media in Serbia Chart 7 – Kurir Table 1 – Večernje novosti Total number of Media outlet Večernje Total number of Total number of selected front-page texts that novosti / section front-page texts front-page texts 2.79 were not selected chronicle 74 20 54 Other society 78 59 19 politics 108 108 0 Total number of selected front-page texts economics 53 47 6 Total number of front-page current affairs 47 29 18 texts that were not selected reportage 25 12 13 culture 18 11 7 interview 17 14 3 Source: Mediameter research, October - December 2016 world 34 27 7 confession 1 1 0 sport 11 2 9 Belgrade News 19 1 18 supplement 51 1 50 The total number of analysed texts considering all seven media that are included in our research sam- reflector 8 1 7 ple is 2251 and that number accounts for averagely 63.78% texts from front pages and for 4.02% of the show business