JOURNALISM OR PR – ILLUSION OR REALITY

Text topic: Themes

Text author: Зоран Јевтовић и Зоран Арацки

If journalism once opened the “windows to the world”, today we may say that the view through them is getting blurred. The increasing numbers and sizes of these windows rise suspicion about the truthfulness of the reality presented. In this work, the authors have analyzed the contents of high circulation and influential daily papers in Serbia pointing to their importance in creation of political culture. A clearly observed trend indicates to the increasing influence of political parties, tycoons, advertisers, whereas the interests of workers, minority groups or political opposition are marginalized. The crises of domestic press is often getting justified by consequences of global economy failure or explosive impact of the Internet, while the losing of credibility or professional standards are rarely even mentioned! Newspapers in Serbia are inordinately covered by golden dust of PR teams and agencies, mediating reality in which politicians and the show business stars offer simple patterns of success, concepts of eternal leadership and wealth within easy reach. Fewer employees in editorial offices and shorter information production periods leave an empty space readily and aggressively snatched by PR experts, spin masters and lobbyists who place contents inclining to more and more aggressive clientelism. In these harsh market approach conditions, journalism also obscurely changes, reminding more and more of a propaganda leaflet or billboards of political mentors, very well hidden tycoons or marketing monopolists. The variable nature of the truth contained in different interpretations of recipients, among ideologically and culturally different readers, leads to desertion of the principles of journalist profession and entering into the sphere of info-entertainment where news does not have the character of public goods but of ordinary goods owned by the richest and the most powerful individuals!