The position of national minorities in media in FRY

 

The enclosed are the results of the research conducted by Media Works agency on the position of national minorities in media in FRY. The Roma minority and the Hungarian minority were taken as minority representatives. All contents referring to those two ethnic groups were monitored for two months (October 25 – December 25 2000), and were then analyzed.

The media chosen to be monitored had to represent the general public opinion, namely they had to be the media with the biggest qualitative and quantitative influence on the society (big circulations – rating, great coverage, suitable contents).

As far as daily papers are concerned, the analysis included the following: Politika, Vecernje novosti, Blic, Glas javnosti.

The analysis of TV stations covered the programmes of RTS, BK TV and Studio B.

The media in Hungarian were included in the analysis (the media in the Roma language have no influence and are not present in the society enough for their analysis to offer any relevant statistic parameters). The analysis included Magyar szo from the printed media and RTNS programmes in Hungarian, from the TV media.

Prime time news (evening news) were monitored on television, and their qualitative analyses were carried out with the same criteria as for the printed media.

The system of analysis was directed at journalists who made the stories and in that way influenced the formation of the public opinion.

The basic parameters used while processing the material were:

  • the frequency of texts related to the given subject
  • the nature of the events reported on
    • conflict situations (situations in which there were clashes of attitudes, of interests or physical conflicts...)
    • non-conflict situations (situations in which there are no conflicts, in which subjects do not influence one another)
  • the theme of presented events (the area of social life the report covers), politics, culture, society, history, legislature, education, economy, criminal, ethnic
  • the manner in which events are presented.

This part of the analysis consisted of two parts. As it was already mentioned, special accent was placed at the role of journalists and that is why the author and his attitude were especially observed.

The following parameters were determined for the author’s attitude (bias):

    • positive attitude: favoures the subject and shows the journalist’s inclination towards the persons or themes in question
    • neutral attitude: unbiased manner of presenting information
    • negative attitude: the author has a personal negative attitude about the theme he or she is covering

This category pays special attention to the language used by the journalist.

Bias in reporting - Hungarians

 

positiv

neutral

negativ

Vecernje Novosti

0

0

0

0

0

0

Politika

0

3

0

0

100%

0

Glas Javnosti

0

1

0

0

100%

0

Blic

0

3

0

0

100%

0

Magyar Szo

41

622

9

6%

93%

1%

RTS TV

0

3

0

0

100%

0

BK TV

0

1

0

0

100%

0

STB TV

0

2

0

0

100%

0

RTNS TV

16

133

0

115

89%

0

 

Bias in reporting - Roma

 

positiv

neutral

negativ

Vecernje Novosti

1

13

1

7%

86%

7%

Politika

0

16

0

0

100%

0

Glas Javnosti

0

8

0

0

100%

0

Blic

0

6

0

0

100%

0

Magyar Szo

1

0

0

100%

0

0

RTS TV

0

3

0

0

100%

0

BK TV

0

4

0

0

100%

0

STB TV

0

0

0

0

0

0

RTNS TV

1

0

0

100%

0

0

 

- To evaluate the work we used: (related to the quality of the news and the number of information)

    • neutral evaluation: the story that meets all professional demands of journalism (answers the questions: who, where, when, how and why) and does not include subjective evaluations of events and subjects.
    • positive evaluation: all professional demands are met, but a positive attitude about solving the problems that occurred is also present
    • negative evaluation: the professional demands are not met.

- The length of the story:

This parameter indicates the importance of the theme and the manner in which it is presented in the media.

- The adopted categories for printed media are:

short article, enlarged article, report, interview, comment, story, photo

  • The length of the story was timed in TV media.

 

POLITIKA

NOVOSTI

BLIC

GLAS JAVNOSTI

MAGYAR SZO

SHORT ARTICLE

0

2

4

5

181

ENLARGED ARTICLE

7

6

2

2

120

STORY

4

2

2

1

226

INTERVIEW

2

0

0

0

88

REPORT

3

0

0

0

5

PHOTO

4

3

1

1

149

 

  • The characteristics of the subjects: it was monitored whether members of the observed minorities were active or passive participants in the covered events and their actions were evaluated: positive, neutral, negative.

Time given to the national minorities on tv media

 

measured time

number of stories

RTS TV

0:00:17

6

BK TV

0:00:59

5

STB TV

0:00:11

2

RTNS TV

3:52:48

149

 

Data analysis

The mentioned period of two months covered :

37 articles related to the Roma minority
7 articles related to the Hungarian national minority
7 TV reports about the Roma minority
6 TV reports about the Hungarian minority
667 articles in journals in Hungarian related to the Hungarian minority
1 article in the journals in Hungarian related to the Roma minority
149 TV report in Hungarian related to the Hungarian minority
1 TV report in Hungarian related to the Roma minority.

Analyses of the data related to the Roma national minority

The stories on Roma people were mostly related to the social problems in the Roma community (conditions of life), while a smaller part was dedicated to individuals (criminal actions mostly). Full moderation in the manner of expression was noticed, which should rather be attributed to the lack of interest of journalists for the given theme (which is obvious from the number of articles), than to the professional approach in performing one’s task. With the exception of one text, in which the term “Gypsies” was used three times, there were no inadequate terms which could negatively influence the public opinion about the Roma people or stir up the racial discrimination against them in the society. In all media, with the exception of Politika, which dealt exclusively with non-conflict situations, the number of conflict and non-conflict situations was rather balanced – about 50%.

Resume

A considerable lack of interest of all media for the national minority problems, especially in TV media, could be noticed, which can be interpreted in two ways:

The present irrelevance of the theme

The current political situation in the country does not include the problems of Roma national minority, and they have therefore been pushed aside to the margins of daily events.

Type of action - Roma

 

conflicting

non conflicting

total

Vecernje Novosti

7

8

15

47%

53%

Politika

1

14

15

7%

93%

Glas Javnosti

4

4

8

50%

50%

Blic

3

3

6

50%

50%

Magyar Szo

0

1

1

0

100%

RTS TV

3

0

3

100%

0

BK TV

3

1

4

75%

25%

TV STB

0

0

0

0

0

RTNS TV

0

2

2

 

Characteristics of the subjects - Roma

 

positiv

neutral

negativ

Vecernje Novosti

2

9

4

13%

60%

27%

Politika

0

18

1

0

95%

5%

Glas Javnosti

0

6

3

0

67%

33%

Blic

0

6

0

0

100%

0

Magyar Szo

0

1

0

0

100%

0

RTS TV

0

3

0

0

100%

0

BK TV

0

4

0

0

100%

0

STB TV

0

0

0

0

0

0

RTNS TV

0

1

0

0

100%

0

 

The nature of the action - Roma

 

political

social

criminal

historical

cultural

business

education

legal

econo-mical

ethnical

Vecernje Novosti

0

9

2

0

0

0

0

1

1

0

0

27%

25%

0

0

0

0

33%

100%

0

Politika

4

10

0

0

4

0

3

2

0

0

58%

31%

0

0

66%

0

100%

67%

0

0

Glas Javnosti

1

4

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

14%

12%

38%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Blic

0

4

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

12%

12%

0

17%

0

0

0

0

0

Magyar Szo

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

17%

0

0

0

0

100%

RTS TV

0

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

9%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

BK TV

1

3

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

14%

9%

25%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

STB TV

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

RTNS TV

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

14%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

TOTAL

7

33

8

0

6

0

3

3

1

1

11%

53%

13%

0

9%

0

5%

5%

2%

2%

 

 

Analysis of the data related to the Hungarian national minority

There are almost no information about members of this national minority in the media in Serbian. Only 13 stories were published during the two-month period, on the TV and in the papers. That is rather strange, since the Hungarian minority actively participates in the current political scene (the published stories had a mainly political character). The articles are of an almost exclusively non-conflict nature, they are written in a neutral manner, with no journalists’ personal attitudes.

The situation is completely different in the media in Hungarian, 667 texts were published in the papers and there were 149 reports on TV. There are even two stories about the Roma people. The cultural and social themes are dominant in the papers, in the form of reports. The subjects were mainly presented in a neutral manner. The events reported are mainly of the non-conflict type and the participants are passive. The situation in the TV programme is similar, with a slight difference in the themes – the cultural themes are dominant.

The comparison of the information obtained from the media in Serbian and in Hungarian shows that the lack of material is not the reason for the absence of the Hungarian minority from the media in FRY – the reason is the fact that journalists are not interested in the problems of national minorities.

Type of action - Hungarians

 

conflicting

non conflicting

total

Vecernje Novosti

0

0

0

0

0

Politika

0

3

3

0

100%

Glas Javnosti

0

1

1

0

100%

Blic

1

4

5

20%

80%

Magyar Szo

38

641

679

6%

94%

RTS TV

2

1

3

67%

33%

BK TV

0

1

1

0

100%

STB TV

1

1

2

50%

50%

RTNS TV

3

146

149

2%

98%

 

Characteristics of the subjects - Hungarians

 

positiv

neutral

negativ

Vecernje Novosti

0

0

0

0

0

0

Politika

0

3

0

0

100%

0%

Glas Javnosti

0

3

0

0

100%

0

Blic

0

5

0

0

100%

0

Magyar Szo

7

657

3

1%

98%

1%

RTS TV

0

3

0

0

100%

0

BK TV

0

1

0

0

100%

0

STB TV

0

2

0

0

100%

0

RTNS TV

7

142

0

5%

95%

0

The nature of the action - Hungarian

 

political

social

criminal

historical

cultural

business

education

legal

econo-mical

ethnical

Vecernje Novosti

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Politika

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1%

1%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Glas Javnosti

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Blic

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.5%

1%

100%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Magyar Szo

270

84

0

37

268

19

66

0

0

36

85%

78%

0

82%

80%

63%

82%

0

0

82%

RTS TV

2

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1%

2%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

BK TV

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.5%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

STB TV

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1%

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

RTNS TV

39

19

0

8

65

11

14

1

0

8

11%

17%

0

18%

20%

27%

18%

100%

0

18%

TOTAL

317

108

1

45

333

30

80

1

0

44

33%

11%

0

5%

35%

3%

8%

0

0

5%

 

 

Conclusion

 

The Yugoslav media are generally not interested in the national minority themes and they cannot for that reason offer a relevant picture of the position of national minorities in the society, nor a general attitude of journalists on that issue.