THE INFLUENCE OF CLIENTELISTIC PRACTICE ON MEDIA CONTENT AND FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA

Abstract

The paper deals with the issues of clientelist practice in the media, with a special emphasis on the socio-economic status of male and female journalists and the precariou work journalists in Serbia. It also presents an overview of the results of the research of clientelism index in the media in countries in the region: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. The aim of the paper is to problematize the correlation between the insecurity of journalistic work, working time, place and working conditions, the emergence of clientelism in the media and the collapse of media freedom. 

 According to the regional survey "Citizens' Response to Clientelism in the Media - MEDIA CIRCLE" for 2016, the situation in all six countries in the region is concerning, because of lack of adequate institutional and legislative mechanisms that could prevent the emergence of clientelism. In Serbia, a drastic drop was detected in 2015, while the 2016 survey showed stagnation in this negative trend. The results of measuring the presence of clientelism show several key problems: non-transparent media policy making; non-transparent ownership and existence of unregistered ownership contracts in the media; the non-transparent impact of advertising agencies especially in digital marketing; the suppression of pluralism of the media; specialism in media professional associations; digital media (internet portals) are completely unregulated new power in the market.

This paper analyses the reporting of the Tanjug agency on the results of the research on the index of clientelism of the media, as a case study of the reflection of clientelist practice on media content that is incompatible with professional standards.