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

Text topic: Modern Media and PR

Text author: Веселин Кљајић

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.