Jevtović Zoran, Pavlović Dragana, Vulić Tatjana: POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND THE CREATION OF PUBLIC Informatol. 45, 2012., 4, 278-286 278 INFO- 2068 UDK : 316.77:32:007 Primljeno / Received: 2012-04-21 Izvorni znanstveni rad / Original Scientific Paper POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND THE CREATION OF PUBLIC POLITIČKO KOMUNICIRANJE I KREIRANJE JAVNOSTI Zoran Jevtović, Dragana Pavlović, Tatjana Vulić Faculty of Philosophy, University of Nis, Nis, Serbia Filozofski fakultet, Sveučilište u Nišu, Niš, Srbija Abstract Sažetak Political communication is an essential element of Politička komunikacija je suštinski element suvre- modern democracy, which in the times of trans- mene demokracije, što u vremenima transformirane formed public and digitized media structures, leads javnosti i digitaliziranih medijskih struktura vodi to more sophisticated public management processes. sofisticiranim procesima upravljanja javnostima. New forms of narration reveal the dominant con- Novi oblici naracije otkrivaju dominantan sadržaj: tents: the text is changed by “aestheticzed” image, tekst se mijenja estetiziranom slikom, kritička dubina the critical depth - by narcissistic surface, and strong – narcisoidnom površinom, a čvrsta argumentacija i arguments and journalistic researches withdraw novinarska istraživanja povlače se pred marketin- before marketing claims, spinning and tabloidiza- škim uvjeravanjima, spinovima i tabloidizacijom. tion. By analyzing the daily press in Serbia, the au- Analizirajući dnevni tisak u Srbiji autori zaključuju thors determine how the press sprinkle itself with kako se ona dobrovoljno posipa zlatnom prašinom gold dust of PR services and agencies, mediating the PR službi i agencija, posredujući stvarnost u kojoj reality in which powerful elite and rich advertisers žive moćne elite i bogati oglašivači, ali ne i obični live, but not ordinary citizens as well, impoverished, građani, osiromašeni i zabrinuti za budućnost. Um- and concerned for the future. Instead of "Argus eye" jesto “Argusovog oka” javnosti tisak sve više postaje of the public, press increasingly becomes a bulletin oglasna ploča političkih stranaka i prikrivenih tajku- board of political parties and undercover tycoons, na, poligon za blaćenje i diskreditiranje ideoloških ground for ideological opponents slandering and protivnika. Referentni politički okvir kreira se daleko discrediting. Reference political framework is cre- iza kulisa javnosti, pa se može zaključiti da je srpsko ated far behind the public scenes, so it can be con- društvo još uvijek udaljeno od participativnog mo- cluded that Serbian society is still far from the par- dela demokracije, sa sveobuhvatnim učešćem građa- ticipatory model of democracy, where citizens com- na koji procesima slobodno formiranog mišljenja i prehensively participate in process of freeform volje mijenjaju zajednicu radi općeg dobra. thinking and will changing the community for the common good. People, facts, values and events are part of every practice, in which the problem for some can be a society, but only the media meaning, design, opin- benefit to others! Thus, the meanings may not be the ions and interpretations reveal the reality in which same for all participants and observers, although they reside. Rising poverty, unemployment, crime, operating in the same space and time, but maybe in corruption, conflicts ... are some of the problems to- the other political, psychological, economic, religious day, but will they be understood depends on how and social contexts. The desire to rule over others has the media present them. In addition, the politics is imposed the battle for the generalization of reality, squandering its power in order to pack the language creation and management of concepts, mental repre- or visual symbols into a convenient informative sentations constructed according to specific goals package that will attract attention and public sup- and purposes. The activity itself does not represent port. Personalities, actions and ideas make social ISSN 1330-0067 Coden: IORME7 Jevtović Zoran, Pavlović Dragana, Vulić Tatjana: POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND THE CREATION OF PUBLIC 279 Informatol. 45, 2012., 4, 278-286 doing, but when others perceive, interpret or com- and from certain interest, reducing the reality to the ment on it, it gets the full meaning. state of the illusions, things and events. The mass Politics is just one of many activities that we create media function nowadays as resonant ground on every day. However, its actions are changing the which representatives of government and parlia- whole community, and ways of action and behaviour ment, political parties, trade unions, religious organi- determine the democratic potential. To manage one zations, universities, NGOs and other agents present society means to manage communication flows, so- their views on the crisis and ways to resolve them. In cial situations and problems; in a word, to make de- addition, media are not neutral carriers of informa- cisions in the interest of the majority. Social evolu- tion, but increasingly active participants in the com- tions direct and determine the character of social plex process of shaping public opinion. The world is systems, while politics determines the depth and in crisis, Europe is shaking under the financial purpose of the processes themselves. However, in shocks, while the articulation of the problem points order to achieve political objectives in practice, it is to the weakness of the political system that offers a necessary to construct favorable images of political solution that is too slow. A large number of former agendas, decisions and personalities in order to en- socialist countries expect help from the European able this objectiveness. This means that the term po- family, in the meantime trying to democratize their litical communication management /1/ is introduced in world and get closer to the world of rich. Political the field of public information. This concept is an parties change to the same degree as the country and integral part of the political system, and without it so does their communication behaviour. Increased there is no formulation, aggregation or implementa- social differentiation, pluralisation and globalization tion of collective decisions. Politics cannot exist with- are changing the traditional framework of the state out communication because it is in direct correlation (the parliament, the government), introducing other with the openness of the process, so it can be said agents to the sphere of decision-making (NGOs, that the presentation of political ideas in the essence trade unions, universities, religious organizations, means democratic framework and public support. In lobbyists, etc.), making communication landscape times of traditional media consent production /2/ was denser and more colourful. simpler and more efficient, because by monitoring of Exploring the content of daily newspapers in Serbia, printing or by use of electromagnetic frequencies we analyzed the quality of political communication, country easily provided access, influence and control the degree of external consultation with the econ- facilities that were offered to passive audience. The omy, science and other areas of society, the power of ubiquity of the Internet and hybrid media has be- thematization and strategic positioning of informa- come a decisive factor in the interpretation of reality tion (agenda-building), /4/ the image of the leader to the most of the population, so it can be stated that and visibility of sources of information. Our goal is to as the world of facts increasingly depends on the show the changes in communication strategy, i.e. to meanings served by media creators, constructing and verify whether information conveys ideological val- reconstructing the events, problems, conflicts, ues. This means that in this paper we will focus our friends, culprits. attention on articles, discursive structure of potential Managing events and issues becomes a priority in meanings and pleasures, as well as influence carriers political engagement, because without an echo in and generators of social needs. public opinion, there is no social recognition! The world of symbols is booming: a richer offer conceals Methodology the poverty of diversity; identification of national We performed a quantitative analysis of the content and ideological is camouflaged by the Potemkin of eight daily newspapers (Politika, Danas, Večernje scenery and discourse of seductive promises, while novosti, Blic, Kurir, Pravda, Alo and Press), from the the complexity of real crisis is reduced to the world first to the tenth of March 2012, and studied three of political spectacles and peripherals. The events, levels of media communication: content (information issues, processes are filtered from the source of in- content and political effects), structure (genres, formation, and content and genres are directed to- sources and streams of sending a message) and proc- wards a predetermined directions. /3/ Signs, texts, ess (the political motivations and activist moments). sounds, noises, advertisements, messages, ideas are Crisis is best developed in the society of risk; the actualized at some point, from a certain perspective, political elite paralyses conflict by institutionalizing ISSN 1330-0067 Coden: IORME7 Jevtović Zoran, Pavlović Dragana, Vulić Tatjana: POLITICAL COMMUNICATION AND THE CREATION OF PUBLIC Informatol. 45, 2012., 4, 278-286 280 public space, power and legitimacy not realizing that tent of message