ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INFLUENCES ON JOURNALISTS AS A CAUSE OF MEDIA MANIPULATION

Text topic: Modern Media and PR

Text author: Ненад Перић и Ана Стевановић

The paper treats the issue of economic and political influences on journalists and the media institutions. Autors’ thesis is that public relations managers of political officials are the true rulers in the communication process. The media employers and journalists are most exposed to the economic and political pressure and influence by all those who use the media for their own interests. The paper has searched the articless of the Code of Ethics of Journalists in Serbia regarding veracity of reporting and independence of pressure, which are often violated in everyday journalistic practice. As there are many mechanisms of manipulation used by Public Relations agencies representing commercial clients or building images of political parties and their officials, authors have concluded that their influence is often stronger than the journalistic ethics and the rules of professional conduct in the media, which currently makes them true rulers of the communication process and leave the public and the society vulnerable to manipulation.