Archive for: Текстови објављени у часопису Култура на српском накнадно преведени на стране језике

PR services of state institutions, political parties and NGOs strive to reach the citizens through the media. The spokespersons and PR staff try to promote the ideas and goals they represent to the general public and use various methods and techniques to this end. Although the services dealing with PR and the relations with the media in Montenegro are rare, it is evident that the phenomenon of placing information had been an accepted practice even before these services were established. This paper will try to determine the extent to which the political PR affects the editorial policies of the dailies in Montenegro, as well as the consequences. We start from an assumption that the organizations with political activities do influence the media thus indirectly influencing wider public, too. A method of quantitative and qualitative analysis of the content of media releases and as well as a comparative method were used. The dailies published in Montenegro, namely Pobjeda, Dan, Vijesti and Dnevne novine are the subject of analysis, while the period of analysis is the period following announcement of electoral results in presidential elections of Montenegro i.e. April 20-26th, 2013. The study will determine to what extent the PR services are used sources of information and how much the journalists process or otherwise directly copy the information received, how many releases are sent to the media, if they are crosschecked at all and how much the media have reported on current events or independently searched for particular information.

In modern Hungary – since it joined the European Union – concepts like communication, modernity, identity and social dialogue have been re-valued. The change in publicity structure was an important transformation process in the system changeover. During democratic transition, the role of mass media also changed. Old tools got a new role, thus enabling the appearance of new actors as well. For many years, the local media (serving democracy better on local levels than their national counterparts) seem to have been re-valued as a local, self-defining forum trying to build local communities and support their participation. Following the system changeover, opportunity was provided in Hungary to establish local commercial and also local community radio stations. The range of the local media became increasingly colourful. Existing county newspapers, local papers, advertising brochures and the newly established local television stations easily attracted the firms and organisations operating in their area, offering advertising and PR opportunities. On the other side, it can be observed that the PR staffs of these companies and civil organisations scarcely exploit the opportunities provided by the local community radio stations. When they do consider the radio, they usually (nearly always) consider commercial radio. Within the frames of accessibility and pluralism, a determinant characteristic of the community radio is the manner in which people participate in the operation of the station. Volunteers consider this “work” a mission, are strongly devoted to the area and possess a serious opinion-forming force on the local level. Researches have proven that the popularity of these stations is higher among audience with higher education. I believe that the community radios – owing to their specific features – could be an appropriate and attractive area for the PR, offering success opportunity primarily on local levels. This study and presentation places special emphasis on the features of the community radios that could promote efficiency of the PR, thus encouraging organisations to become part of the local communities.

Public relations, as a planned two-way communication that can be managed are oriented towards communication channels among which the media are probably the most important channel through which recipients can recieve messages used by PR to influence public opinion. The media, as transmitters of such messages, increasingly rely on specialized PR company departments or agencies which, on behalf of these companies, manage their communications. Given that the media have, for some time now, been one of the essential target groups of companies, relations with the media have become one of the most important activities of their PR experts. Such a link of the economy and the media and their relying on each other, becomes even stronger in the transition period, because privatization of the media and the impact of advertisers on the editorial policy becomes greater than ever. In the transition and privatization of the Serbian media, where nearly all of the most important newspapers and TV channels went to the hands of foreign owners (or unknown owners) journalists are treated as expenditures and expenditure cuts are achieved by hiring underpaid freelance and economically dependant journalists. Such journalists and such media are easy targets for the advertisers who, through their PR experts, affect the editing processes in the media. Failing to recognize the significance of PR and journalism respectively, lack of education or poor education in training courses, low professional standards of PR experts and the media representatives, inadequate wages, job insecurity, distrust, lack of professionalism and ignorance of the work process are common denominators in both evaluations of PR experts on their own profession and cooperation with the media, and of the journalists on their own profession and cooperation with PR experts. This was demonstrated in two researches carried out at the end of 2012 and at the beginning of 2013 by the Public Relations Society of Serbia (DSOJ) in cooperation with the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), Independent Society of Journalists of Vojvodina (NDNV) and the Media Association of the Local Press.

Journalists and PR experts were once two strictly separated professions. As time passed by they grew closer and today almost 70% of all published news come from PR sources. Nobody is accusing journalists of being lazy or PR experts of being overly aggressive in imposing their information. A peaceful harmony could be found in the print business. But, new digital technologies, especially social networks, have dramatically changed the relationship and harmony between journalists and PR professionals. Numerous citizen journalists and citizen PR equivalents, without any other reason except their wish to be heard, overload social networks with information of very often dubious quality or unethical features. Nevertheless, social networks are free, we have freedom of speech, and Facebook, Twitter and other networks have pushed out the classical media. Journalists were the first line of victims, but black clouds loom over PR professionals as well. They never know when one kid may crucify their company on Twitter. How can PR experts respond to aggressive network communicators and are they capable of, together with journalists, returning information to the old stream? The process cannot be considered reversible, because nobody has managed to stop the technology development yet. Adjusting to the new technologies, finding new possibilities and reasserting quality information is the only possibility. Journalists and PR experts have to find together new methods for creating news and informing the public.