Kada tonski isječak postane vijest: primjer fabriciranja vijesti u Hrvatskoj

Media environment is rapidly changing and facing a widespread crisis in journalism. It is followed by the decline of audience trust and increasing market pressures. The main goal is to win the audience’s attention, very often by creating drama and producing ‘conflict’. The news is not based on something that really happened and that is relevant, but it is more often manufactured or artificially produced. In this case study we explore the curious life cycle of a sound bite from a passing remark by the then Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović’s to the headlines, discussions and extensive reports which developed over the course of several days. This example shows how news could be manufactured and content blurred when it is built around a fragment without providing the context, in this case a political quote. For several days, politicians, experts, war veterans, but also ordinary citizens were involved in the manufactured news story without making a reference to the context. Consequently, the democratic debate was avoided. Drawing on a discussion of news fragmentation as isolation from context, we show that in this case, news values (what news is) are increasingly blurred, preventing the news from becoming the source of information and discussion of the country’s key issues.Suvremeno novinarstvo mijenja se velikom brzinom i istodobno se suočava s krizom koja se odražava u sve većem nepovjerenju u medije, ali i sve većim pritiscima tržišta. Pažnju publike mediji privlače neprestanim potenciranjem dramatičnosti i proizvođenjem sukoba. Vijest se više ne temelji na nečem što se stvarno dogodilo i što je relevantno, nego na nečemu što je umjetno proizvedeno. U ovom se radu prati geneza jednoga tonskog isječka (engl. sound bite), dijela izjave hrvatskog premijera Zorana Milanovića, koji je dospio u udarne vijesti televizijskih informativnih emisija, rasplamsao rasprave i postao glavna tema novinarskih izvještaja. Na primjeru jednog fragmenta, isječka izjave političara, opisuje se kako se, kada se izostavi kontekst, stvara nova medijska priča. Sljedećih nekoliko dana političari, stručnjaci, branitelji, ali i obični građani bili su akteri te priče, a da se ni jednom nije spomenulo u kojem je kontekstu izgovorena ta izjava. Demokratska debata je izostala. Rad se usredotočuje na raspravu o fragmentaciji vijesti i njihovoj izolaciji od konteksta. Na navedenom primjeru pokazuje se kako su informativne vrijednosti (ono što vijest jest) zamagljene, pa stoga vijesti prestaju biti izvor informacija i poticaj za raspravu o bitnim nacionalnim pitanjima

Modeli organizacije tv redakcija i novinarske prakse u Hrvatskoj: Studije slučaja HRT, Nova TV i N1

The efforts of today’s journalism to win back the audiences’ trust and meet the expectations of audiences, while remaining committed to high-quality journalism, has been reflected in organizational and cultural changes in newsrooms. The digitalization of news production processes meant developing new newsroom organization models and news routines. As television is still the most trusted media in Croatia, this study focuses on three Croatian television newsrooms – the public broadcaster HRT, the commercial broadcaster Nova TV, and the most-watched non-terrestrial news channel N1 – and explores their different models of organization and how they have adapted to a transformed media environment and audience expectations. For this, a series of exploratory semi-structured interviews are conducted with a total of 28 journalists and editors. This study examines newsroom practices, the efficiency of newsroom integration or convergence implementation (if any), and the attempts to produce and distribute original innovative content across platforms. The study also tackles the main opportunities and obstacles that discourage or encourage them to produce what they perceive as quality stories and build engagement and trust in journalism. Findings point to three distinct newsroom integration and organization formats shaped by several important factors – past newsroom traditions, technology, ownership (Nova TV), foreign investors, international consultants, politics (HRT) and ultimately the format of the channel (N1). This is predominantly reflected in the news production process, or more precisely, in the ways editors and journalists create and shape the daily news program. Differences are identified in workflow between journalists employed by the public service broadcaster and its counterparts.Najveći izazovi novinarstva u novom medijskom okolišu su kako zadobiti povjerenje publika, zadovoljiti njena očekivanja, a pritom ostati predano najvišoj kvaliteti izvještavanja. To se očituje i u organizacijskim promjenama i kulturološkim promjenama u samim redakcijama. Digitalizacija procesa proizvodnje vijesti donijela je nove modele organizacije redakcija, kao i nove novinarske prakse. Budući da je televizija i dalje medij kojemu u Hrvatskoj građani najviše vjeruju, ovo se istraživanje usredotočuje na tri televizijske informativne redakcije – informativni medijski servis Hrvatske radiotelevizije (HRT), informativnu redakciju komercijalne televizije Nove TV, i najgledaniji kabelski kanal za vijesti N1 – te analizira modele njihove organizacije i funkcioniranja, načine na koje su se prilagodile promijenjenom medijskom okruženju, ali i očekivanjima publike. Provedeni su polustrukturirani intervjui s 28 novinara i urednika kako bi se istražile redakcijske prakse u proizvodnji vijesti, učinkovitost integriranja redakcije i procesa konvergencije (ako je postojala), kao i proizvodnja i distribucija originalnog i inovativnog novinarskog sadržaja za različite platforme. Također, identificirane su glavne prilike i prepreke u proizvodnji onoga što novinari i urednici percipiraju kao kvalitetan novinarski sadržaj kojim grade odnos sa svojim publikama. Rezultati istraživanja upućuju na tri različita modela redakcijske integracije i organizacije koju su oblikovali različiti čimbenici, poput tradicionalnih i ustaljenih načina rada u redakcijama, tehnologije, vlasništva (Nova TV), stranih investitora, međunarodnih konzultanata, politike (HRT), kao i samog formata kanala (N1). Sve ovo ponajviše se odražava u procesu proizvodnje vijesti, tj. u načinima na koji urednici i novinari stvaraju i oblikuju dnevne emisije vijesti. Uočene su i razlike u načinu rada između novinara zaposlenih u javnom servisu i onih na drugim televizijskim redakcijama

Convergence Journalism and the Public Interest: The Case of Croatian Public Radio Television (HRT)

This text deals with the transformation of Croatia’s public service, Croatian Radio Television in the context of the integrated media and building a converged newsroom. I compare the newsroom workflow at HRT with the daily routines of its strongest commercial competitor – Nova TV and the good practices of selected public service companies. At the end of 2012 the public service media provider, Croatian Radio Television (HRT) published a new set of rules and regulations and announced its reorganisation. The new HRT is primarily looking for a new approach to the media and wishes to show that a public service is no longer just radio and television, but a joint effort which acts as new media. According to the new restructuring plan, the greatest challenge is to establish the convergent integrated newsroom and consequently the establishment of a single news media service. In view of its resources: technical, human and financial, but also in view of the modes of financing (TV licence fees and advertisements), it is naturally expected for Croatian Radio Television not only to become a role model media that provides accurate, authentic information in the public interest, but also to endorse innovation and the use of new technologies. An enormous effort has to be undertaken to prove that the convergence is not only about the quantity of journalistic content, but also could bring quality. HRT is at the beginning of the changing process, yet its goals and vision have not been communicated effectively. Most of the HRT staff has not embraced the new vision, nor the professional, economic, and logic argumentation that stands behind it. Most of them are sceptical and this can slow down the speed of integration. It seems that for HRT, it is not enough just to have a restructuring plan in place, but also a well thought out plan of how to break down the resistance of its employees and motivate them to abandon old habits. There is a lot to be done to create a working environment that could fulfil the proclaimed mission to produce high-quality, trusted and varied journalism (media content) that serves the society and democracy

EDITORIAL SELECTION OF TV NEWS – A CHOICE BETWEEN VIEWERS, COMMERCIAL INTERESTS AND POLITICS

Članak se bavi pitanjima selekcije vijesti u televizijskome mediju te analizira profesionalnost novinara u odabiru i prezentaciji televizijskih vijesti u odnosu između gledatelja, politike i komercijalnih interesa. Iako prihvaća ograničenja istraživanja selekcije vijesti s obzirom na političke, tehnološke, ekonomske i druge vanjske utjecaje, ovaj se rad ponajprije usredotočuje na specifičnosti televizijske informativne emisije imajući na umu ne samo sadržajne, nego i vizualne produkcijske i tehnološke karakteristike, te profesionalne kriterije u odabiru i obradbi vijesti. Emisije televizijskih vijesti upravo zbog svoje javne funkcije, u hijerarhiji televizijskih žanrova imaju najvišu poziciju, a televizijskim kućama u zakonskim dokumentima služe kao dokaz njihove društvene odgovornosti. Preispitivanje javne funkcije televizijskih vijesti pretpostavlja i kontinuirano istraživanje selekcije vijesti i informativnih faktora koji utječu na selekciju. Zaključci u ovom radu temelje se na pilot-istraživanju selekcije vijesti u središnjim informativnim emisijama u Hrvatskoj, s osobitim naglaskom na emisiju javne televizije Dnevnik. U ovom se radu, između ostaloga, daje pregled istraživanja selekcije vijesti i informativnih vrijednosti, definiraju televizijske vijesti kao žanr te u teoriju uvodi nova klasifikacija informativnih faktora koja je prethodno testirana kroz analizu sadržaja televizijskih informativnih emisija javne i komercijalnih televizija. Ovaj rad otvara put daljnjim istraživanjima selekcije vijesti te može imati višestruke koristi za unapređenje hrvatskoga televizijskog novinarstva u cjelini te podizanje profesionalnih standarda na višu razinu.This article is an enquiry into television news selection, which scrutinizes the question of journalists’ professionalism in selecting, producing and presenting the news, by putting it in critical relation to the issues of reception, the influences of politics and of commercial interests. Taking the route of identifying the key production, technological, and representational vectors, the study offers the elemental scope of professional criteria applied in news selection and production. On the basis of the main theories of news selection, including the key theory of Galtung and Ruge, and on the basis of her own research of news selection in the main television newscasts in Croatia (with special attention given to the central public service television news program “Dnevnik”), the article suggests that the structures of programs, journalistic forms and individual news texts correspond to the values ingrained in the classical postulates of television journalism theory, in the form of applied news factors. The article discusses the influence of political and commercial interest on TV news content and the ways in which technology changes the news flow. This study recognizes the need for a continuing redefinition in the realm of news theory, if it is to meet the serious institutional and production changes that news selection undergoes in the present age. Finally, further research is recommended in the direction of elevating the professional standards of Croatian television journalism to a higher level

PROFESSIONAL CRITERIA OF NEWS SELECTION AND PUBLIC INFLUENCE

Autorica drži kako je istraživanje funkcija televizije prioritetni problem svih suvremenih teorija medija. Svi opisi funkcija televizije naglašavaju informacijsku ulogu televizije čime televizijska vijesti zadobiva izuzetno mjesto. Za bilo koje istraživanje informativnog programa moraju se definirati specifičnosti televizijske vijesti, te definirati osnovni profesionalni kriteriji u odabiru i obradi vijesti. Na taj se način može odrediti koja je informativna uloga određene televizijske emisije i koji se profesionalni standardi primjenjuju pri uređivanju. U tekstu se dalje analizira situacija na HTV-u i komentiraju novija istraživanja uređivanja i selekcije vijesti u Hrvatskoj. Autorica smatra da je nužan temeljiti znanstveni rad iz područja televizijskog novinarstva kako bi se unio red među pojmove i definicije televizijskog novinarstva i TV vijesti. Sva buduća istraživanja televizijskog medija imati će višestruke koristi za unapređenje hrvatskoga televizijskog novinarstva u cjelini, podizanju profesionalnih standarda, a mogla bi se koristiti u različitim obrazovnim oblicima namijenjenim budućim novinarima.The author argues that exploring the functions of television is top priority for all current media theories. All accounts of the functions of television emphasize the informative role of television which makes television news important. In any study of news programming, specific features of TV news must be identified, and fundamental professional criteria in the news selection and interpretation defined. In that way the informative role of a certain broadcast may be strengthened and professional standards applied. The text also analyses the situation on the HTV and reviews some recent studies of news editing and selection policies in Croatia. The author thinks that thorough research of television journalism is needed to put some order into the concepts and definitions of TV journalism and TV news. All the future studies of the television medium will contribute greatly to the quality of Croatian TV journalism on the whole and raise the professional standards; also, they might come in handy for the education of future journalists

Live Reporting in a News / Current Affairs TV Show as a Factor of (Non) Credibility

Već sam pogled na sadržaj televizijskih informativnih emisija na nacionalnim televizijskim postajama govori da su se u samo nekoliko godina dogodile velike promjene kada je riječ o javljanjima novinara uživo. Razvoj tehnologije, opremanje televizijskih postaja satelitskim mobilnim kolima i pritisak konkurencije pridonijeli su tome da se danas novinari mnogo više javljaju izravno s mjesta događaja. Slika i ton te mogućnost pravodobnog izvještavanja zasigurno su karakteristike, odnosno informativne vrijednosti televizijskog novinarstva. Stoga bi i javljanje uživo kao dio informativne emisije trebalo pridonijeti autentičnosti i vjerodostojnosti programa. U današnje vrijeme međutim televizijske se kuće nadmeću u javljanjima uživo kako bi pokazale svoju moć. Izravno obraćanje kameri pretvara reportera od donositelja informacije u glavnu zvijezdu. Podatci o tome koliko se puta u emisiji koristila takva forma ne govore ništa o profesionalnosti uređivačke politike. Javljanje uživo neće biti informativna vrijednost ako su u njemu zanemarene druge vrijednosti (news values). Novija istraživanja pokazuju da je javljanje uživo u većini slučajeva izgubilo svoju izvornu svrhu – izvijestiti o važnim i recentnim događajima – te je stoga sve manje sadržajno opravdani element stvaranja vijesti.Only a perfunctory glance at the content of current aff airs/news programs makes it clear that in just a few years time, live reporting on Croatian TV news shows has increased dramatically. Technological advancements, the equipping of TV stations with mobile satellite vans, and the pressure of competition have all resulted in increased instances of live reporting. When investigating news values, picture and sound, as well as the possibility of immediate, timely reporting represent the key characteristics of TV journalism. In this context, live reports, as part of a news segment, should add to the authenticity and credibility of the program. Currently, however, TV broadcasting houses attempt to best one another in the number of live broadcasts as a means to purport a higher quality of their program. The direct address to the camera turns a reporter from an anonymous bearer of information into the “main star”. The figures accumulated on the extent of this form used in a news show do not determine the professional level of the editorial policy. Live reporting cannot be regarded as news value if other news values are neglected in the process. Recent research shows that live reports, in most cases, have been stripped of the initial notion of reporting on important and recent events. As such, they are becoming less of a justifi ed element in the creation of news