/ 1968
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PR ON THE MEDIA AND MEDIA ON THE PR

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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.

/ 1968
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JOURNALISTS AND PR EXPERTS COOPERATION PRINCIPLE

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Journalists and PR experts daily gain on importance in creating public opinion. Members of these professions are directed to each other and their everyday relationship takes on new forms. These should be controlled since there is a real danger of their degenerating into the very opposite. The greatest part of all informative press, radio and television programs is filled with PR material and by their misuse, heavy manipulations may occur. It is not always easy for the media or the journalist to recognize often hidden interests of those who supply PR materials. In order to avoid such traps it is necessary to have vast knowledge, personal courage and moral stamena. This work presents research results on the interaction of journalists and PR experts. They are based on material collected by in-depth interviews with members of both professions. The research aims to identify the problems that endanger the quality of communication between journalists and PR experts, in order to improve their cooperation and help successful informing of the general public.

/ 1968
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SOCIAL NETWORKS THREATS

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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.

/ 1968
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DOMINATION OF PR OVER JOURNALISTIC CONTENT IN SERBIAN PRINT MEDIA – CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

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The paper considers structural causes for the domination of PR over information content in the media, with special emphasis on the Serbian media scene – mainly the print and online editions. Recognition of the growing global trend of storytelling finds its roots in formation and hyper fast development of the PR industry and parallel academic research and foundation of public relations as a special discipline within public studies, in a period spanning almost a century. The world economic crisis and its repercussions which have caused the biggest crisis of the media industry (primarily in the print media) ever, along with the digital storm which has totally transformed the information and communication channels, as well as the profession crisis – gave additional power to the PR and opened new spaces for the boom of the PR machinery. Continual shrinking of resources for gathering and processing of information and consequential disappearance of investigative and interpretative journalism coupled with increased possibilities for politicians and companies to deliver their messages directly to the public have created a global media trend which spilled over impoverished Serbian media scene over the last few years, making it dependent on this kind of PR content.

/ 1968
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EDITOR’S NOTE

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/ 1968
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THE CONCEPTS OF SECULARISM AND LAICISM: A REPLY TO DARKO TANASKOVIĆ

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I have recently suggested differentiation of the term “secularism” from the term “laicism”, so they can be applied to different phenomena. According to this suggestion, the term “secularism” would continue to denote indifference or opposition to the presence of religion in the public domain, whereas the term “laicism” would be used to denote emphasis of the laic role in ecclesiastic affairs. While Radovan Bigović has shown openness to this proposal, Darko Tanasković has expressed a certain distance. The reasons for his distance are the subject of this text.

/ 1968
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WHY FESTIVAL MUSEUM ATTENDANCE CANNOT PREDICT REGULAR MUSEUM ATTENDANCE: EXAMINING THE ATTITUDE-BEHAVIOR RELATIONSHIP

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This study addresses the fact that during the one night festival “Museum Night”, tens of thousands of visitors find themselves in museums, which stands in sharp contrast to the lack of museum visitors during the rest of the year. Taking into account conceptual differences between festivals and regular museum programs, we examined the obstacles that prevent festival visitors from become regular museum visitors. Using the two stage stratified sample (N=1480) of visitors of the “Museum Night” in Serbia 2012, we identified 39% of those who have never visited a museum during previous twelve months. This allowed for comparison between this group of visitors and the regular museum visitors based on their socio-demographic characteristics and their cultural habits. In addition, we assessed their attitudes towards museums, subjective norms about visiting museums, and perceived barriers for more frequent visits (perceived controlability). The choice of constructs was guided by Ajzen and Fishbein’s Theory of planned behavior (1985; 2011). We analyzed if they could predict (a) intentions to visit museums in the future and (b) visits to the museums in the previous year. The attitude towards museums was proven to be a good predictor of both intentions and past behavior, whilst subjective norms and perceived control were better indicators of past behavior. Results demonstrated that museums were perceived as predominantly educational institutions, with their main image-related drawbacks being lack of dynamics and excitement. In spite of that fact, a significant number of festival visitors did express their intentions to visit museums more often in the future. We discussed how these intentions could be addressed in public communication in order to translate them into behavior. We also suggested how both descriptive and prescriptive norms could be employed to widen potential museum audience and which strategies could improve the image of museums as more proactive and appealing.

/ 1968
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STEFAN NEMANJA AND THE NATIONAL SERBIAN AWAKENING

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During the creation of the first Serbian kingdom, the role of Stefan Nemanja as a great prefect was reflected in the balance between the two great powers, i.e. the East and the West, where Serbia was trying to develop and maintain a national identity. Preserved hagiographic works, although schematized and written to celebrate Nemanja and his descendants, however, express a historical and cultural context of the early Serbia, especially that preceding the time of the kingdom. In the earliest surviving works related to the life and the cult of Stefan Nemanja, we can most clearly see the role of preserving Serbian identity and tradition. The main features of the Serbian culture, among others, related to the concepts of language and image.

/ 1968
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CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AS A HOLY RIDER – WARRIOR

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In the early Christianity there were many amulets, known as a group of Gnostic amulets, depicting a holy rider-warrior holding a cross-tipped spear piercing the enemy. This motif was usually attributed to Solomon who killed a female demon, but was later associated with Christ, St. George, St. Theodore and other saints. There is also the amulet that shows Emperor Constantine the Great in his victory at Milvian Bridge (Parisinus gr. 510, fol. 440). It can be assumed that the image of Constantine as a holy warrior of the imperial cavalry, before the period of iconoclasm, was even more widespread. However, some variations can be observed in the usual iconography. Also, although Constantine’s role in the spread of Christianity and the celebration of the Holy Cross is huge, this symbol is much older and related to the influence of other, older religions and beliefs.

/ 1968
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TRADITION AND TRANSITION/CULTURAL CONTROVERSY

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What underlies the controversy of the cultural identity of Serbia which has been in transition for over two centuries? I have looked for answers in the unstable, hybrid and dynamic concept of the Balkan identity. The Balkans, as a specific ethnic and culturological mix, as a place where noble barbarogeniuses meet with barbarianism, the European Orient, the melting pot of traditions and global trends, is a specific platform from which we have observed construction of presentation and mixing of our attitude to the national identity with the attitude to the culture in general. Analogy between the 19th century process of modernization and Serbia today is obvious, both in the steps for building cultural and national identity and in the latest consequences of the poor social transformations. The transition from a traditional to a modern society, modeled after West European paragons, has always neglected at least one of the key integrating factors. Hence the uncoordinated social and cultural policies and poorly directed social emancipation in general have led to ignorance of or misinterpretation of own culture, tradition and models, causing long term incompetence for preservation of cultural (as well as political) independence in these regions. This text poses some questions related to the deficit of modernity and the cultural imperialism that has remained in the Balkans as a consequence of colonial dominance. The marriage of the politics and the esthetics is analyzed on the example of visual representation of national identity, through portraits of the ruler – Knez Miloš Obrenović – a clear indication of the attempt at developing a cultural strategy and defining a unique national cultural model. Equating the notion of national identity with political mentality has shown that passive traditional mentality (static and non-communicative) is an obstacle to forming a modern cultural identity which is innovative and capable of forming its own perception of politics. The political transformation of the system, which legged behind overall social transformation, has brought about an unsustainable cultural policy (which should be a foundation for the modernization of state) as well as maintenance of the status quo attitude to the dominant centre. This is why mere erasure of the colonist identity models and acceptance of new models were not sufficient to establish own national and cultural identity. The never-ending process of modernization has caused permanent indefiniteness of the modern cultural policy, since in the unstable period of transition we still choose between traditionalism and global culture, all the while additionally emphasizing the differences and controversies without creating a field of free cultural fluctuation. Returning to the Balkans as a cultural paradigm of Serbia, the cultural policy of today should communicate with the visible wealth of diversity without contradicting either tradition or transition, in order to avoid the inferiority in recognition of or indifference for production, presentation and preservation of its own cultural riches.