09. 09. 2008

ALL THE NUMEROUS MEDIA RATHER SUSPICIOUS

Almost three quarters of the Serbian population believes that the information being broadcast in the media are controlled, and approximately a half of them thinks that political pressure is the main source of limitation to the freedom of the media – show the results of the latest survey of the Strategic Marketing agency.

Belgrade, September 9, 2008 (Glas javnosti) - Almost three thirds of the Serbian population believes that the information being broadcast in the media are controlled, and approximately a half of them thinks that political pressure is the main source of limitation to the freedom of the media – show the results of the latest survey of the Strategic Marketing agency.

- The negative viewpoint was caused by the biased opinion that the media were bad, corrupted and in service of something, although the public usually had no evidence for that – said Srđan Bogosavljević, the director of the agency, when interviewed by Tanjug.

As he says, most viewers still decide to listen to or watch only “their chosen” media; also, there are such media which are viewed not so much because of the trust they inspire, but primarily because of their large scope and the number of those informed by them.

The president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, Nadežda Gaće, claims that the general trust of the citizens in the Serbian media is relatively low, whereas it is rather high when they view or listen to the media they themselves have chosen as a source of information, which shows that the media scene in Serbia is very divided, just like the political scene.

According to Nino Brajović, the president of the Association of Journalists of Serbia, an average Serbian citizen does not have the money to purchase several different newspapers every day, so he or she looks for a printed medium which satisfies his or her understanding of the world and would not corrupt his or her idyll.

The key information medium is television, says Bogosavljević, since all the other media require certain expense and effort, while receiving information via television is the simplest, shortest, fastest and most effortless. Another reason is, he ads, that TV programs are offered by a great number of media houses, which enables the viewers to find the one which suits them the most and informs them most easily, and all that leads to the fact that they opt for the medium which they trust.

Bogosavljević asserted that more or less all the media occasionally became the focus of attention due to, allegedly, misinforming the public, but the percentage is low.

- When one analyses the results of the survey, it often turns out that those who do not like a medium in the first place or for an unknown reason believe that it misinforms the public, do not watch or read it – Bogosavljević pointed out.

He added that only a very small number of citizens confidently claimed that there truly independent media actually existed. However, there were also a very small number of those who were positive that the media were somehow dependent on someone or something.