Digitalna televizija u Hrvatskoj: Postaje li televizija novi medij?

We live in a multimedia world and media convergence is our everyday reality. Technological improvements cause important transformations in society and the economy, and the media are the first to be changed. Digitisation transforms the media, especially television, into new media with numerous possibilities for new products and services. The main characteristic of this process in Croatia is the fact that implementation precedes development strategies or plans. Furthermore, the lack of public discussion enables these processes to remain far away from citizens who do not understand them or are not motivated to understand them. The proliferation of new digital channels (terrestrial, cable, satellite or broadband) as well as fragmentation of the mass audience make this process even more complex. Technological improvements have produced a new multimedia environment breaking down the traditional boundaries between telecommunications, computers and the audiovisual industries. As in many countries in the region, the public service television in Croatia is faced with a program identity crisis and at the same time is fighting for stable financing. Regarding the process of general digitization and media convergence, we must ask if it is possible to predict the future of the ‘old media’, especially of television, which is still the most influential. If it wants to survive, public service television has to reorganize and redefine itself as a converged, multimedia public service.Živimo u multimedijskom društvu, u kojem je medijska konvergencija svakodnevna. Tehnološki razvoj prouzročio je značajne transformacije u društvu i gospodarstvu, pa su i mediji izloženi neprestanim promjenama. Zahvaljujući digitalizaciji koja medije transformira u potpuno nove, otvarajući im prostor za brojne mogućnosti, proizvode i usluge, i televizija se našla u vrtlogu promjena. Za taj proces u Hrvatskoj karakteristično je da implementacija prethodi razvojnoj strategiji i planiranju, a nedostatak javne rasprave dodatno povećava nerazumijevanje. Proliferacija novih digitalnih kanala (zemaljskih, kabelskih, satelitskih i široko pojasnih) te fragmentacija masovne publike, dodatno usložnjavaju proces. Tehnološka dostignuća omogućavaju razvoj novog multimedijskog okruženja, koji pritom ruši tradicionalne granice, one koje su postojale između telekomunikacija, računala i audiovizualne industrije. Kao u većini zemalja u regiji, javna televizija se i u Hrvatskoj suočava sa sve izraženijom krizom identiteta te rastućim problemom čuvanja stabilnog financiranja. Kada je riječ o općoj medijskoj digitalizaciji i konvergenciji, nameće se pitanje je li uopće moguće predvidjeti budućnost sada već ‘starih medija’, posebice televizije, koja još uvijek uspijeva zadržati primat najutjecajnijeg medija. Opstanak javnog servisa moguć je upravo ako se i sam multimedijski redefinira i restrukturira

Mapping Digital Media: Croatia

The Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs.Croatia is well ahead of the curve. Experimental broadcasting via digital signals began in 2002 and the last analog television signals were switched off in September 2011. The country has the highest free-to-air digital terrestrial coverage in Europe, exceeding 99 percent of national territory, and it is the main television platform for the majority of the population.Television remains the dominant medium for both information and entertainment. However, the internet is the most trusted medium for news and information. Radio has experienced a marginal decline in listenership, but print media have been hit hardest by the globaleconomic downturn and audience migration online.In the final analysis, this report finds that policy has been responsive to digitization and that the process has done much to democratize and pluralize Croatian media. It has not yet, however, neutralized the power of dominant media organizations, or indeed the influence wielded by political elites and advertisers. There is also evidence that in response to digitization, journalism across sectors has become increasingly tabloid and oriented towards soft news, and there are uncertainties as regards the sustainability of public interest media

CONVERGENT PUBLIC MEDIA SERVICE

Nezaustavljiv razvoj tehnologije uzrok je velikih mijena na društveno-ekonomskoj razini, a one se, između ostaloga, reflektiraju i na razvoj i promjene unutar medijske industrije. Tehnološkim dostignućima omogućen je razvoj novoga multimedijskog okruženja koje pritom ruši tradicionalne granice koje su postojale između telekomunikacija, audiovizualne industrije i informatike. Ovakvim razvojem ponajviše su profitirali pluralizam i raznolikost medija, a omogućenom interaktivnošću pojedinac prestaje biti pasivni korisnik medijskih sadržaja. Zbog ubrzanja procesa proizvodnje sadržaja i usluga, medijsko tržište postalo je izrazito kompetitivno, sve veća ponuda specijaliziranih sadržaja rezultirala je izraženom fragmentacijom publike, a kao posljedica toga smanjeni su prihodi od oglašavanja. Navedene promjene odrazile su se kako na komercijalne medije tako i na javni servis čija je programska ponuda bitno izmijenjena, a smanjenje publike otvara pitanje legitimnosti obvezne pristojbe te time i financijske stabilnosti odnosno opstanka ove javne usluge. Javni radiotelevizijski servis suočava se sa sve izraženijom krizom identiteta. Njegova je budućnost osigurana tek ako se redefinira i restrukturira te kao novi, konvergirani, multimedijski, interaktivni javni servis građanima osigura pristup širokoj ponudi informativnih, obrazovnih, ali i zabavnih sadržaja.The unstoppable advance of technology has brought about major changes at the socio-economic level that affect, among other things, the developments and the changes in the media industry. Technological advances have enabled the emergence of a new multimedia environment that has wiped out the traditional boundaries between telecommunications, audiovisual industry and informatics. These advances have been most propitious for the media pluralism and diversity. Due to the interactivity they enable, the individual is no longer a passive user of the media content. Owing to the accelerated process of the production of contents and services, the media market has become strikingly competitive, and the increasing selection of specialized contents has fragmented audiences, causing a drop in the revenues from advertising. These changes have left their mark both on the commercial media and the public service whose choice of programs has conspicuously changed, while the drop in the size of audiences brings into doubt the legitimacy of the compulsory subscription fee and consequently the financial health i.e. survival of this public service. The public broadcasting service is faced with a more pronounced identity crisis. Its future can be secured only if it is redefined or restructured and if a new, convergent, multimedia, interactive public service enables citizens to access a broad range of information, knowledge and entertainment

The Use of Soft Power in Digital Public Diplomacy: the Cases of Brazil and India in the EU

The focus of this comparative study is on the use of soft power in the digital‎ public diplomacy of two Global South players, Brazil and India, in EU member‎ states. The main objective of this research is to find out how their embassies‎ use digital diplomacy in communication through their official websites‎ and to identify which soft power resources they dominantly use. Quantitative‎ content analysis and thematic analysis were used to analyze the categories and‎ subcategories on the main menu and special banners on each embassy’s home‎ page, and the associated content. Unlike the Indian embassies, which fully‎ embraced digital diplomacy 2.0, the Brazilian embassies do not utilize the full‎ potential of digital diplomacy and primarily remain reliant on websites only.‎ According to this research, the Brazilian embassies in the EU use film as a‎ dominant soft power resource in their digital diplomacy, while the Indian embassies‎ use yoga as a powerful diplomatic tool. Still, both approaches are not‎ enough to attract European publics. There remains a lot of space for improvement‎ and better usage of soft power resources and digital public diplomacy‎ potentials in communicating the powers of Brazil and India in EU countries.

Television in a New Media Environment

Prvo desetljeće 21. stoljeća donijelo je intenzivne promjene na području medija i komunikacija uopće. Novo multimedijsko okruženje srušilo je tradicionalne granice koje su postojale između telekomunikacija, audio-vizualne industrije i informatike. Iako je granica između tradicionalnih i novih medija još uvijek prilično jasno određena, tendencija je da se obriše, a dominantnu ulogu u tom procesu imat će ne samo promjena procesa proizvodnje medijskih sadržaja nego se unutar podjele na online i offline medije razvijaju i novi oblici mogućnosti komuniciranja na tri razine: jedan na jedan, jedan mnogima te mnogi mnogima. U ovom razvojno-transformacijskom procesu specifi čnu ulogu imaju videosadržaji koji su donedavno bili rezervirani isključivo za film i televiziju te su uglavnom koristili jednosmjerni komunikacijski kanal, onaj koji ide od tvorca i ponuđača sadržaja prema gledateljima. Novi mediji omogućili su videosadržajima razvoj na sve tri komunikacijske razine te su time otvorili prostor novim videožanrovima i formatima. Predstavljajući rezultate istraživanja “Povjerenje u medije”, komparirajući ih s vlastitim istraživanjem televizijskih vijesti te Forresterovim istraživanjem mladih kao medijske publike, autorica u ovom radu pokušava dati odgovor na pitanje u kojem je smjeru moguć daljnji razvoj ili uopće opstanak televizije kao tradicionalnog medija.The first decade of the 21st century has brought about comprehensive changes for media and communications in general. The new multimedia landscape has broken traditional boarders between telecommunications, the audiovisual industry, and information technology. Still, the border between traditional and new media is quite defined, yet there exists a tendency to mitigate it. Changes in media content production will play the dominant role in that process, as well the fact that the three-step flows of communication encompass new configurations of one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many communication across the online/offline divide. In such processes of development and transformation, video content, once reserved exclusively for film and television using the one-way channel of communication (from content provider to viewers), now plays an increasingly important role. New media provides opportunities for video content to use three-step flows of communication, which subsequently enables space for new video genres and formats. This article presents the results of the study entitled, ”Media Accountability”, and compares them with the author’s own research on television news and with Forrester’s research on youth as a media audience. Finally, this article provides insights on the future of television as a medium and its existence as a traditional medium