Melita Poler Kovačič

Relations with the media: Who are the main actors in an advertorial production process in Slovenia?

The aim of this article is to reveal the production process behind unethical and illegal advertorials — to uncover its main actors, their motives, and responses to this practice. The study combines participant observation and interviews with the main participants in the production of texts which appear in an identical form to journalistic text, yet are commercial messages. The analysis showed that the key actors are advertisers, as they are the initiators of the practice; they define the content and the form of publication to achieve commercial benefit. Both marketing agents and journalists/editors are more or less subordinate to them at all stages of the production. The analysis also revealed that relations between the main actors in the advertorial production process are predominately negative, even antagonistic, although members of a specific group, especially journalists and editors, do not share a homogenous view towards other actors or the advertorial practice itself.

MOBI JOURNALISM IN SLOVENIA

The practice of so-called mobi journalism at a commercial television station, which has been promoting itself as the first case of citizen journalism in Slovenia, is explored by text analysis combined with an analysis of discourse processes using ethnographic methods. The article examines whether the television station actually follows the purposes of this model of audience participation. The analysis reveals that it is, in fact, a market-driven quasi-citizen journalism practice, abusing the term “citizen journalism” and exploiting new media technologies for commercial purposes. In the news published on the website and in the television programme, it is the media producers who covertly make key decisions, defining the content and the structure of the news; while the audience members’ activity is reduced to “spying” (searching for and taking photos of alleged offences or irregularities by lower public officials) and denunciating (sending such photos to a television station). The success of this practice results from an unusual connection between the past socialist and contemporary profits-oriented journalistic practices and behaviour patterns.

A Discursive Approach to Genre Mobi News

■ This article argues that genres are discursive categories that move beyond the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, audience and social practices as well. It demonstrates the usefulness of an expanded genre analysis. The genre chain of mobi news, which relies on the use of mobile telephone cameras and is a popular genre in Slovenian and Balkan media, is explored by combining text analysis with an analysis of discourse practice and social practice. Mobi news items are produced as a denunciatory participatory practice in which audience participation is managed by the production team: journalists define the content and the structure of the news while the audiences activity is reduced to spying and denunciating. ■

Journalism Ethics in Multinational Family: “When in the EU, Should One Do as the EU Journalists Do?”

This essay reviews a number of issues regarding self-regulation and professional ethics which journalists across Europe might face in the scaling down of national borders. The dilemma of whether a pan-European ideal standards code of ethics can help journalists when working across borders and encountering other traditions is explored by referring to Slovenia, one of the new European Union (EU) members. Presenting a critique of the traditional professionalization concept, cogent arguments are found for rejecting a universal code of ethics. By acknowledging the limitations and even deficiencies of such codified morality, a journalists responsibility is emphasized and a different concept of ethics is indicated. Ethical journalists in this international context must focus on responsibility, positive tolerance, and empathy that transcends mere obedience to a code. The EU citizens ethics rather than EU professional ethics should be advanced, based on universal principles and grounded in personal responsibility.

The paradox of Slovenia: Investigative journalism during socialism and democracy

From the end of the Second World War, when Slovenia became one of the socialist republics of Yugoslavia, until its independence in 1991, the Slovenian media were a buttress of socialist authority. Journalists informed and educated their readers, listeners and viewers in a spirit of socialist self-management (Amon, 1994: 29–30). They were social-political workers consciously dedicated to the ideals of Marxism–Leninism and contributing to the development of the socialist self-management society. Freedom of expression and information began to slowly grow, however, when in 1963 the constitution gave citizens the right to express their opinions in the mass media (Splichal and Vreg, 1986). In comparison to the 1950s when everything was overseen by the Communist Party, journalism became more independent and democratic (Merljak, 2004). Analyzing the Slovenian media environment of the 1960s, Merljak Zdovc (Merljak, 2004; Merljak Zdovc, 2007) even found a few articles in the tradition of American muckraking, such as an exposé on conditions in the Radeče reformatory (Kozinc, 1962). Nonetheless, most journalists could write about the state of affairs in the country only indirectly, sometimes with the aid of novelistic techniques. It was not until the 1980s that Slovenian society, influenced by continuous political and economic change, became open enough to allow certain fringe media to directly criticize the government and socialism (Amon, 2004: 66). One publication in particular, the weekly magazine Mladina, often used investigative reporting methods to produce articles on topics widely considered taboo at the time (Amon, 1993; Šuen, 1994). These topics included the People’s Army of Yugoslavia (a series about the building of a villa for General Mamula), the non-aligned nations movement (an article dealing with the sale of weapons to Ethiopia) and the failure of self-management (the privatization of Mercator Journalism

Information Literacy in Croatia: An Ideological Approach.

This article has been retracted.

Production process of unlabeled advertorials in the Slovenian press

Abstract The objective of this paper is to present the research on how unlabeled advertorials are produced and interpreted by their key producers. The study uses ethnographic methods and reveals that advertorials are produced by news producers or agency practitioners and advertisers either independently or collectively. The production was based on paying for various expenses or services and making threats. Reasons for production were different within particular groups of producers. Responsibility belongs to all actors analyzed, but also to other media and social actors who establish and maintain circumstances that enable this illegal and unethical practice.

ATTITUDES TOWARDS GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS IN SLOVENIA: BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND MYTHS STALIŠČA DO GENETSKO MODIFICIRANIH ORGANIZMOV V SLOVENIJI: POZNAVANJE IN MITI

Abstract Objective: Because existing studies examining the impact of knowledge on people’s attitudes towards genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have had contradictory results, the goal of this study was to explore the attitudes that the population of Slovenia has towards GMOs and how knowledge affects their attitudes. Methods: In January 2012, a telephone survey was conducted researching attitudes towards GMOs and knowledge about them on a representative sample of the population of Slovenia (N=446). Results: The results revealed a predominantly negative attitude towards GMOs, regardless of their type, application and geographical distance; perceptions of the negative impact of GMOs on an individual’s health were particularly strong. The majority of respondents (59.5%) had moderate knowledge about GMOs, while a largeshare (30.4%) had poor knowledge of the topic. They had better objective knowledge about topics linked to formal education or legislation and a weaker understanding of mass media myths. Correlation analysis and one-way analysis of variance showed a statistically significant correlation between knowledge and attitudes towards GMOs. The respondents with better objective knowledge (who gave the correct answers to test questions) had a less firm and a more positive attitude towards GMOs and vice versa. The respondents who lacked objective knowledge but expressed subjective knowledge (they were convinced that their answers were correct) on average had a more negative attitude towards GMOs compared to those who lacked subjective knowledge. Conclusions: This finding leads to the conclusion that knowledge, particularly relating to media myths about GMOs, has an important role in forming attitudes towards the impact of GMOs on an individual’s health. Izvleček Namen: Zaradi nasprotujočih si izsledkov obstoječih raziskav o vplivu znanja na stališča o GSO je bil namen študije ugotoviti, kakšna so stališča prebivalcev Slovenije do gensko spremenjenih organizmov (GSO) in kako znanje vpliva na stališča o GSO. Metode: V januarju 2012 je bila izvedena telefonska anketa o stališčih in znanju o GSO na reprezentativnem vzorcu med prebivalci Slovenije (N = 446). Rezultati: Izsledki so pokazali prevladujoče negativno stališče do GSO ne glede na vrsto, uporabo in na zemljepisno oddaljenost; pri tem posebej izstopa percepcija vpliva GSO na posameznikovo zdravje. Večina anketiranih (59,5 %) ima o GSO srednje dobro znanje; visok delež (30,4 %) je takih, katerih znanje je slabo. Boljše objektivno znanje imajo o temah iz formalnega izobraževanja ali spremljanja zakonodaje, slabše pa o medijskih mitih. Korelacijska analiza in enosmerna analiza variance sta pokazali, da med znanjem in stališči o GSO obstaja statistično značilna povezanost. Anketiranci z boljšim objektivnim znanjem (pravilni odgovori na testna vprašanja) imajo manj trdno in bolj pozitivno stališče do GSO in nasprotno. Anketiranci brez objektivnega znanja, a z izraženim subjektivnim znanjem (prepričanost o pravilnosti svojih odgovorov) imajo v povprečju bolj negativna stališča do GSO kot tisti, ki nimajo subjektivnega znanja. Zaključki: To pomeni, da ima znanje, še posebej pa medijski miti o GSO, pomembno vlogo pri oblikovanju stališča o vplivu GSO na posameznikovo zdravje.

Health product advertising through news in lifestyle magazines

Health product advertising through news in lifestyle magazines Background: In addition to doctors, the mass media are the key source of information about health issues. It is therefore very important what kind of messages they produce and convey. Some media researchers called attention to paid-for health-related texts, published as editorial content without being labelled as advertisements (now commonly referred to as advertorials). There is a lack of studies investigating the practice of such messages production. Methods: The aim of the study is to fill the gap in this research field by identifying characteristics of unlabelled health-related advertorials and thus give the readers the mechanisms they need to recognise them. Textual analysis of unlabelled health-related advertorials published by three Slovenian lifestyle magazines was combined with an ethnographic study. Results: Textual analysis indicated that readers can recognise advertorials by the partial and positive-only presentation of health-related products/services, which are described and promoted by using synonyms of effectiveness. Observation and in-depth interviews showed that the key actors in the production process are advertisers and newspaper marketing agents. Advertisers want to have control over texts presenting their products/services. Marketing agents stress poor financial situation of their magazines. News producers claim that they carry out orders given by advertisers and marketing agents. Conclusion: By publishing unlabelled advertorials, lifestyle magazines privilege a pharmaceutical-commercial attitude to health. They promote the pharmaceutical industry by presenting it one-sidedly and in a simplified way, and by ascribing to it the capacity to solve health problems of people in a non-problematic way. A more complex social view of health issues, however, is neglected. Oglaševanje Zdravstvenih Izdelkov v Obliki Novinarskih Prispevkov v Revijah za Življenjski Slog Izhodišča: Poleg zdravnikov so množični mediji glavni vir obveščanja ljudi o zdravstvenih temah, zato je pomembno, kakšna so sporočila, ki jih ustvarjajo in posredujejo občinstvu. Nekateri raziskovalci medijev so opozorili na pogosto pojavljanje hibridnih prispevkov, ki so med novinarstvom in oglaševanjem zdravstvenih tem. Značilno zanje je, da so jih naročniki plačali, vendar pa so bili objavljeni kot novinarski prispevki in brez oznake, da gre za oglasno sporočilo. Raziskav, ki bi omenjeno problematiko natančneje preučile, je zaenkrat premalo. Metode: Z raziskavo smo želeli zapolniti omenjeno raziskovalno vrzel in razkriti značilnosti neoznačenih hibridnih besedil o zdravju. Na ta način želimo bralcem predstaviti mehanizme, prek katerih bi lahko takšne prispevke tudi prepoznali. V raziskavi smo v treh slovenskih revijah za življenjski slog analizirali vsebino neoznačenih hibridnih prispevkov, ki obravnavajo zdravstveno problematiko. Ugotovitve smo primerjali in obravnavali skupaj z opravljeno etnografsko študijo. Rezultati: Analiziranje obravnavanih besedil je pokazalo, da bralci lahko prepoznajo hibridna besedila na podlagi pristranskih, zgolj pozitivnih lastnosti z zdravjem povezanega proizvoda oz. storitve, oziroma na podlagi opisov, ki izrazito in pogosto omenjajo izraze, povezane z učinkovitostjo. Z opazovanjem in s poglobljenimi intervjuji smo ugotovili, da so glavni akterji produkcijskega procesa oglaševalci in tržni agenti v časopisnih hišah. Oglaševalci želijo nadzor nad vsebinami, ki obravnavajo njihove proizvode oz. storitve. Tržni agenti izpostavljajo šibek finančni položaj svojega medija. Novinarji pa zatrjujejo, da zgolj izpolnjujejo ukaze oglaševalcev in tržnih agentov. Zaključek: Revije za življenjski slog ustvarjajo hibridna besedila, s katerimi promovirajo farmacevtsko-komercialni pogled na zdravje. Oglašujejo pomembnost farmacevtske industrije, ki jo predstavljajo enostransko, poenostavljeno in kot tisto, ki neproblematično rešuje zdravstvene probleme ljudi. Bolj celovit družbeni pogled na zdravstveno problematiko pa pri tem ostaja prezrt.

News Producers' Pressures on Advertisers: Production of Paid News in Slovenian Television Programs

While media and journalism studies focus on advertising pressures on news producers, media pressures on advertisers are overlooked. The present study is the first to analyze media pressures on advertisers and the ways in which all participants interpret the phenomenon. This study used ethnographic methods to study 10 Slovenian television stations and 10 corporate marketing departments, as well as in-depth interviews with key actors. The research showed that television advertising practitioners and journalists exert pressure on advertisers to pay for news that either promotes products/services or suppresses information that reflects badly on advertisers.