Despite remaining the dominant form of media in Serbia, television’s influence on the local audience has decreased while the Internet is more widely used than ever.

A research study entitled “Young People and the New Media” („Mladi i novi mediji“), conducted last year by Ipsos Strategic Marketing, indicates that the influence of the Internet is growing stronger as the Web has become the primary source of information for 18 percent of Serbian citizens. At the same time, the significance of television is more limited, especially among young people, although it’s still watched every day by 82 percent of citizens – which is five percent less than in 2010. Results of the latest research show that 56 percent of the population aged 12 or more use the Internet (around 3.6 million citizens), while 41 percent use it every day. This percentage is twice as large within the population segment aged 12-29, of which no less than 81 percent use the Internet every day – which constitutes a 13 percent increase in comparison with 2010.

New trends are slowly breaking ground in Serbia, as evidenced by the fact that 40 percent of users read news on the Web every day. However, at the same time, two- thirds of users have never posted a comment on blogs, news sites or forums they, indicating that participation is still not high. Entertainment is still the dominant activity on the Web: Facebook is actively used by 2.1 million citizens. Young people spend 3.5 hours a day on the social media site, two hours out of which involve active participation.

It is interesting to note that half of users claim that the Internet has changed their habits (which is denied by only 6 percent of users), while 70 percent of all interviewees admit that they usually spend more time on the Internet than they planned. The younger population is more interested in entertainment, while the older segment of users spends more time looking for information related to politics, economy and services. Most of the users surf the net between eight  o’clock in the evening and midnight.

Results of the latest research therefore confirm that the Internet will soon become the main source of information in Serbia as well, and that survival of the traditional media will largely depend on their ability to adapt to new circumstances and Web 2.0 technologies. This is further evidenced by the fact that the Internet is already used as the primary source of information by 43 percent of the population aged 12-29, i.e. the generation which treats information technologies not as a fashion accessory, but rather as a sensory extension.

The inevitable changes will doubtlessly manifest as an additional burden to the traditional media, which already offer some or all of their content in the online form. However, the most pressing issue deals with how to go about charging for content. Since this problem has not yet been resolved by the much more developed media in the West, Serbia’s  domestic media can only hope that the period of their domination will last as long as possible.

The research was conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) on a representative sample of 2088 citizens of Serbia aged 12+ by Ipsos Strategic Marketing agency. The research is a part of the Serbia Media Assistance Program implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) via its partner IREX Serbia.

Photos of murdered Libyan leader 

A recent Swiss study analyzes how the Swiss media dealt with photo and video material in reporting on Gaddafi’s death and to what extent they crossed boundaries of media ethics.

The mobile screenshot featuring the dead body of the former Libyan leader taken by an AFP photographer made it around the world in seconds. While a few media outlets declined to publish the photo for ethical reasons, others justified the disclosure by citing it as a  “historical event” which needed to be documented.

Scientists from the Public & Society research department (Forschungsbereich Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft – fög) at the University of Zurich analyzed roughly 40 print, Web and television media sources in the German, French and Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland.  Researches specifically examined which presentation techniques were used to exhibit Gaddafi’s death and to what extent they violated ethical rules.

The researchers examined 365 journalistic articles and rated them using a negative point system. An article was regarded as unproblematic and received no negative points if the post-mortem images of Gaddafi were not used at all or were only used once on the first day after the incident for purposes of historical documentation, but not on the front or main page of the news source.  The reporting was seen as problematic when the media continued to publish photos of the dead body after the first day (one negative point), and contributions were regarded as very unethical when the photos were shown as leads (two negative points).

According to the study, online media was the least considerate of ethical principles. They received an average of 6.7 negative points per title. Television sources followed with 3.1 negative points, and print news with 1.5 negative points.

The online news portal Blick.ch (belonging to the tabloid Blick) was found to be the worst violator of ethical principles and received 19 negative points for their reporting.

Media scientists classified the repeated presentation of the pictures, prominent positioning of the photo and the frequent use of amateur videos showing Gaddafi’s deceased body as “very unethical.”

Other more prominent media titles found to have violated ethical principles were the news sites tagesanzeiger.ch, bazonline.ch and bernerzeitung.ch, which all received 12 negative points.

In contrast, a few newspapers and websites such as the Südostschweiz, suedostschweiz.ch,  Neue Luzerner Zeitung, Le Temps, 20 minutes, Basler Zeitung, Neue Zürcher Zeitung and the newscast from Tele Ticino reported news of Gaddafi ’s death in what was seen as an ethically correct way. They scrapped the publication of Gaddafi’s death photo completely and instead published archival footage of Gaddafi or used other photos on the topic, for example images featuring rebels cheering on a tank.

Further information on the study “Ghaddhafi-Bilder in Schweizer Medien – Wie viel ist zu viel“ (“Gaddafi pictures in Swiss media – how much is too much?”) can be found on the website of the fög .

The changing political system in Albania is tied to the evolution and transformation of the media industry.

The establishment of political pluralism and a market economy in 1991 brought with it the collapse of the state’s monopoly in the Albanian media market. This transition from a centralized system to a private media system was accompanied by fundamental changes in the market. In contrast to the former communist East, where the transition from controlled media markets to free markets occurred in a gradual manner, in Albania this change took place abruptly.

Thus, during the years of 1991-1997, almost all of the newspapers and magazines controlled by the communist state disappeared from circulation (with the exception of the newspaper Zëri i Popullit, the main paper of the communist party in power), and in their place emerged new newspapers which functioned primarily as private businesses. These new media businesses fundamentally transformed the landscape of Albanian media. Before 1990, only two daily national papers were printed: Zëri i Popullit and Bashkimi. In 1991 four daily papers were printed, and in 1994 that number doubled to eight. Today 28 national dailies are printed – a considerable figure when compared to the number of print media publications  in countries with populations much larger than Albania’s.

The same pattern occurred in the audiovisual market where the only state radio-television outlet, RTSH, is dominated by a large number of private television and radio stations that have overtaken the Albanian-speaking media. According to statistics from Keshilli Kombetar  i Radios dhe Televizionit (KKRT - National Council of Radio and Television), in Albania today four national television stations are in operation, 65 local stations, 33 cable television stations, three national radios stations and 47 local radio stations.

A market with minimal regulation  

The boom of private media has brought a state of chaos to the media market. The fact that the legislation in this field still has many gaps contributes to this phenomenon. The state has not attempted to play its full role in a market that developed rapidly and has the tendency to bypass regulations. This somewhat anarchic situation has been especially visible in the field of electronic media. While newspapers and magazines have begun registering to become legally licensed as private businesses, electronic media have started their operations without legal licenses from the state.

One of the primary traits exhibited in Albanian media is a lack of financial transparency. From the moment they enter the market, private media businesses do not declare their investments. This causes periodic imbalances, as large investors from other fields systematically enter the market and alter the media landscape. This has occurred periodically with the involvement of construction businessmen like Koço Kokëdhima, Irfan Hasanbelliu, Genc Dulaku, as well as coffee businessman Dritan Hoxha – who instantly created new media outlets which became the most important in the country. As a result of the powerful investments of the first two businessmen (Kokëdhima and Hasanbelliu), their respective newspapers are the have the largest circulations in the country, while Dulaku and Hoxha have two of the largest Albanian private television platforms.

Competitive new businesses that enter the market frequently alter the tendencies of the media market. The newspaper Shekulli, entered with a price three times lower than the other papers. It sold for 10 Lek (approximately 70 cents), while the other newspapers sold at a price of 30 Lek (210 cents). Later on, the newspaper Panorama followed the same path. This, in turn, caused the other owners to react by seeking legal protection from the Competition Authority. Though such an imbalance in price cannot be justified – even by the cost of printing (which is almost equal) or market sales – it is explained by the fact that the publishers of some newspapers cover printing costs with profit arriving from other businesses.

In the field of television media, imbalances in the media market are mostly reflected in advertising costs, as well as program content. Various television channels have been unable to accept the prices of commercials. On August 5, 2003, the directors of five main television channels, RTSH, Klan, Vizion Plus, Top Channel, and Arbëria signed a memorandum of cooperation for the setting of identical  prices for television advertising. According to this memorandum, every 30-second commercial spot transmitted on channels of the five signees would cost 100 Euros. In spite of this, however, the memorandum has remained unimplemented, as each channel applies its own fees.

Such lack of respect for rules is also shown in the financial treatment of  journalists and technical personnel.

The salaries of journalists vary drastically from one media outlet to another as a result of competition: Top Channel and Vizion Plus pay salaries two or three-times higher than the other outlets which suffer economic difficulties. The salaries of television journalists are also much higher in comparison to those of print or radio journalists.

Since 1992, there have been continuous attempts to establish regulations in the media sector. In many aspects, the market today is more stable than the situation a few years prior; yet in spite of this, it remains erratic, unstable, and to a certain degree, informal.

A small market in crisis

With a population of roughly 3 million residents, Albania remains a small and unfavorable market for media. Small markets create ample obstacles for the consolidation of media businesses, as the cost of their products is practically the same as those produced by media operating in larger markets, while the profits remain much smaller.

However, apart from the question of size, the Albanian-speaking media markets are also fragmented due to the liberal politics practiced by the Albanian government in the media field. A large number of actors – which have a very positive effect on the pluralism of Albanian media – operate in these markets but also fragment the media. Regardless of the creation of media groups in which consolidation can be observed, the market remains significantly spread out since concentration has not resulted in the closing of the other businesses. The difficulties of a small market are not only reflected in the low circulation of Albanian papers, but also in the minimal amount of advertising in electronic media (accurate audience measures for such media is still lacking).

The daily circulation of all Albanian newspapers and magazines is no greater than 70,000 copies; and of this number, only Panorama and Shekulli have a circulation between 15,000 and 25,000 copies (according to the declarations of these outlets themselves). The other outlets all have a circulation of less than 5,000 copies.

The long crisis of print media

Print media, which was the first private media form in Albania following the fall of communism, has experienced a long crisis that continues today.

In the first phase (1991-1994), print media outlets enjoyed favorable financial conditions because  they were financed primarily by political parties, and as a result, had three stable financial sources:  

• Political parties
• Circulation sales
• Advertising sales

There were other advantages as well, the first being a large, stable audience—a significant component of which corresponded to the electorates of political parties. In addition, the parties spent a portion of their budget on print media, as at the time this form of media was still the most powerful in Albania.

The first large daily papers that emerged after 1994 were faced with great difficulties. Due to the low salaries of journalists (50-250 Euros)[KN3] , the prices of these papers were much lower and barely covered the costs of production.

Other than production costs, a significant portion of the total cost of newspapers and magazines is allocated to intellectual production, a term used by Nadine Toussaint-Desmoulins in L’Economie des Médias. This cost has increased continually because of the raise in average Albanian income. In addition, the competition to attract the most qualified professionals has contributed to the increase of income, which has become a burden in the fragile economy of Albanian print media.

The economic state of print media in Albania is greatly challenged, which in turn results in unstable media businesses with a lower chance of survival. The majority of businesses have, in fact, negative balances and if the laws of economic balance transparency and bankruptcy worked as intended, many of these businesses would be forced to shut down. This situation is compounded by the small advertising market in Albania.

The boom of audiovisual media

The largest investments in Albania are made in audiovisual media.  However, these investments are characterized by different patterns of development: large investments are made in television media and smaller investments in radio media. Even in television media there is a diversity, with some companies having made much larger investments, which in turn has made them much more competitive than the other television outlets. For example, television stations like Top Channel, Klan, Vizion Plus and lately Ora News have invested more, and consequently become superior in terms of the quality of broadcasting.

The investments in these television stations have made them competitive in three areas: broadcasting technology, production of programs, and human resources.

Technological investments include the building of broadcasting studios and broadcasting systems. Until 1997, the biggest investor in these two fields was Radiotelevizioni Publik Shqiptar (RTSH, Albanian Public Television), which was the only broadcaster in the entire Albanian territory. Still, however, with regard to technology RTSH was very far behind. The cameras and the editing studios of RTSH are still those imported from Eastern Germany between the years of 1985-1990.

According to statistics provided by KKRT, the majority of television channels in Albania have negative balance sheets. All local television channels that transmit in Tirana and other regions result in negative balance sheets. However, one should also take into account that the financial declarations made by the majority of television channels in Albania are not accurate. This inaccuracy results from the false declaration of the number of journalists employed and their salaries, as well as falsely reporting profits made in an effort to evade taxation on profit. Nevertheless KKRT has created a database of the finances of television channels in Albania which shows that only Klan, Top Channel and Vizion Plus have managed to reflect positive balance sheets. Here are the numbers for some of the main television channels for 2008-2010.

The main source of revenue for Albanian television comes from advertising. Out of $15,666,000 spent on advertisement in Albania for the year 2004, $8,500,000 went to television advertising. This amount is not dispersed equally, however, because the main television stations receive the majority of advertisements from businesses and the government. The remaining production costs are covered by other financial sources. Some TV channels like TV Arbëria have foreclosed, while others are experiencing ongoing financial difficulties, which are reflected in unpaid staff salaries.

Radio businesses are more modest, but also more stable than television businesses. Though the majority of radio outlets are faced with a shortage of funds, they have much lower costs than other media, as their programs mostly consist of news taken from the Internet, talk shows with callers, and music programs. Meanwhile, staffing costs are low and technological investments are also not very expensive.

In summary

The nature of Albanian media is largely defined by the nature of the media owners. As a result of the radical liberalizing reforms, the Albanian media market, as well as all other markets, has quickly become dominated by the private market. Private media has considerably balanced the role of the public sector. The Albanian public radio-television has remained an unreformed media institution and is still quite similar to the state radio-television of the past. Its reliability and ratings are consistently decreasing and it is now mostly watched in rural areas.

Contrary to most European countries where legislation prevents the concentration of media in the hands of a single owner, in Albania and Kosovo this sort of phenomenon is allowed. As a result, in the Albanian-language media markets one can witness the consolidation of various media, and the creation of powerful media groups controlled by a single shareholder. Furthermore, Albanian legislation does not prevent other businesses from investing in the media industry.

Internet and new technology are the only sources of media with an open perspective and a common space for communication in the Balkans. Online communication bypasses the constraints of traditional media. In spite of this, in comparison to other countries in Europe, the accessibility of Internet and new communication technologies to the population is still small. The high costs stand in contrast to the low purchasing power of the Albanian public. The prevalence of Internet is compromised by the low economic level of the population and the lack of landline telephone infrastructure—a gap that is even more visible in rural areas. Despite remaining in infancy, new media outlets have increased in prevalence at a continuously increasing rate and within a short time are expected to emerge as competitors to traditional media.

In light of the above, it can be said that the Albanian media landscape is one marked by great challenges—challenges that have been, in part, faced successfully, although they are intertwined with the communication, democratization, modernization and integration of Albanian society. Facing such challenges will be the true test of the Albanian media system.

 *****

This article was written specifically for EJO by Dr. Mark Marku. Dr. Marku is a professor of media and communications at the Department of Journalism and Communication, University of Tirana. He has published several books on the history of the Albanian media and on  issues  of media semiotics and which have been translated by many Western authors in the field. Currently Dr. Marku is a Member of Albanian Parliament, and Vice-President of the Parliamentary Commission of Education and Media.

A recent research initiative focuses on the journalistic profession in Serbia.

“Profession at the Crossroads – Journalism at the Doorstep of the Information Society,” conducted by the Media Center of the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade from July 2010 through June 2011 (heads of project: Prof. Dr. Miroljub Radojkovic and Prof. Dr. Snjezana Milivojevic) explores the hypothesis that journalism in Serbia lacks the adequate resources for an appropriate response to the technological, economic and social challenges radically transforming the profession. The results paint a gloomy picture of Serbian journalism, grappling with extremely low salaries and digital advances.

A long period of transition and the primacy of existential issues in Western Balkan countries have removed the emphasis from the challenges of contemporary journalism. Unsuccessful privatization, increasing concentration of ownership, development of the media market and the economic crisis – these are the characteristics defining the Serbian media scene.

Most Serbian journalists work for electronic media outlets (60%) and the press (30%), while others work in news agencies, online media, as independent journalists, etc. More than half work in Belgrade, while the remainder are almost uniformly distributed throughout Vojvodina and Central Serbia.

Data indicates that journalism has become a female-dominated profession, with gender differences resulting from an increasing number of female students enrolled in journalism-oriented university programs. Yet journalism still reflects the typical male-female discrepancies with regard to senior positions: less than 33 percent of women occupy senior or managerial positions, while only one woman in Serbia is co-owner of a media company. This information is significant in consideration of the social and economic position of journalists. Although it is often believed that women who are employed part-time face the choice between career and motherhood, it is encouraging to know that two-thirds of interviewees (76.54%) are permanently employed. The picture is also rosier when it comes to journalists’ education. The results indicate that most journalists have obtained a high level of education. Seventy-three percent hold a university degree, while the remainder have a high school diploma at the least. Still, journalists’ salaries do not reflect the notion that high education is adequately valued. The largest number of interviewees (23.85%) working in editorial positions and/or in the publicly-owned media make a salary that exceeds 50,000 dinars a month (which is more than the average Serbian salary, equaling approximately €150-400 per month). Half of all interviewees (50.15%) have salaries lower or equal to the average salary in the country.

According to journalists themselves, the greatest challenges to the industry  are low-quality journalism, the prevalence of sensationalism and tabloid journalism (22.13%), while almost one-fifth (17.23%) believe that the largest problem facing the media is a poor economic position aggravated by the global economic crisis.

With this in mind, what is the best way for journalists in Serbia to face the challenges of new media which, according to many theorists, threaten to replace traditional journalism? This study indicates that journalistic professionals do not see such a grim picture. Instead, they are optimistic. Serbian journalists essentially agree that technological changes are not profound and that they will not have a decisive influence on the future of the profession.

Danish media report outlines past, present and future of Denmark’s media system.

In a recent case study published in conjunction with the MEDIADEM research project, Rasmus Helles, Henrik Søndergaard and Ida Toft of the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) sought to determine whether media policy in Denmark promotes media freedom and independence. Danish media policy, according to the authors, is “marked by the tension between the wish to sustain and stimulate pluralism in media content – and the wish to have independent media capable of fulfilling their key democratic role in society.”

The report, titled “Does Media Policy Promote Media Freedom and Independence?” (2011), elaborates on Denmark’s media landscape while also pointing to the media subsidy system as the central target for reforms.  While all significant players in the market recognize the need for reforms to the media subsidy system, both sides are finding it difficult to agree on a path for change.  Even as the reform process becomes progressively convoluted and bureaucratic, the central theme of the restructuring continues to be the need to promote an independent media system in Denmark.

The Media System

Helles, Søndergarrd, and Toft explain that Danish media policy is complex due in part to several contributing factors. The media market in Denmark is unique due to its small size, which creates a fragile system that relies on both privatization and publically funded subsidies.  At the core of the system is the shared need to keep the media both pluralistic and independent, which is becoming gradually more difficult in the digital age. 

Current disruptions to the market have increased competition amongst public and private media, shocking a system that had previously operated harmoniously. As is the case globally within many media markets, digitization has strained both broadcast and print media sources due to the public’s increasing unwillingness to pay for content. In the past, publically funded broadcasters existed separately from the privately funded print news sources, however as disruptions increase and the media market shrinks, privatization of broadcast media has become more common. As this battle grows, private media houses find that the competition for consumers is difficult in what they see as an unbalanced system.

As is pointed out in the MEDIADEM case study, “the relationship between pluralism and freedom of expression is complex.”  While there is agreement and support for pluralism in order to maintain a free and open societal debate, those in favor of the reduction of media subsidies argue that a system that provides funding to media outlets is directly contrary to the notion of media independence.

Current Reforms and Overall Goals

Helles, Søndergarrd, and Toft point out that a viable public funding system for Danish media is necessary, but the process is arduous and characterized by a great deal of political posturing.  The current system, which relies on distribution numbers when doling out public money, can no longer be seen as a feasible option.

When mapping new media policy initiatives, Danish political parties negotiate using a three-step process.  This process begins with conferences and meetings between political parties and intermediaries, followed by the formulation of a proposal prepared by the Ministry of Culture, and finally actual negotiations that take place between the Ministry of Culture and spokespersons from the individual political parties.  While this process is open to objections by both public and political sources, changes are rarely made and typically concern funding to different media outlets as well as program content.

While few suggestions have been made for funding reforms, a recent Danish media report titled “Support for Democracy: The Future of Public Support for Media” (Dyremose, 2011) strongly suggests that subsidies be distributed based on news production rather than circulation numbers.  The report, which was prepared by a committee tasked with developing a new media support model, outlined a system that would directly fund journalists while also providing subsidies to promote newspaper production.  These reforms were suggested not only because newspapers still provide more than 70 percent of the news content in Denmark, but also because it was seen as being more sensible than the forming of committees to determine funding. 

As opposed to other funding reform suggestions which called for a review board or committee to determine funding levels for media, the direct distribution of public money to journalists and print news would allow Danish media to retain independence while avoiding political interference.  In addition, the MEDIADEM report explained that by moving away from circulation based funding it could also “ease constraints on market entry imposed by the old, platform-specific system.” 

Critics of the proposed system, including the Competition and Consumer Authority have pointed out that it could result in an even more crowded market while giving the major players a larger share of support funds.

The authors conclude their report by pointing to influence of the European Union’s media policy in today’s regulation of Danish public service media, explaining that “public service broadcasting continues to be regarded as the cornerstone of Danish media policy, and also of Danish cultural policy.”

As MEDIADEM authors continue plowing through their research, the scope of the €2.65 million media policy project takes shape.

In a thorough examination, project director Evangelia Psychogiopoulou from the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIMEP) in Athens, Greece, leads a research group intent on determining whether European media policy is fueling or inhibiting a free and independent media system.

MEDIADEM’s objective is to pinpoint and develop media policies that are tailored to the unique fluctuations occurring across the European media landscape. The research project features collaborations from 14 universities in 12 EU countries and two candidate countries and is funded by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme for Research as part of the Citizen in the European Union grant agreement. The considerable research undertaking began in April 2010 and will conclude through March 2013.

Project Outline

Three categories of media policy were developed by the MEDIADEM project in order to assess and fuel the development of quality media across Europe. According to the policy brief, the project first seeks to introduce and maintain a legally enabling environment, followed by the promotion of professional standards and ethics, and finally “the strengthening of media literacy.”

The MEDIADEM work plan consists of four separate phases and began with the production of an extensive report establishing theoretical foundations for the project’s research aims. Phase one also provided background information on the 14 different media markets participating in the project.

The second phase, which is ongoing, delves into empirical research in the form of 14 case studies, one for each of the collaborating countries. These in-depth case studies aim to assess media policy by not only examining the legislation but by also outlining the development process. In order to determine if individual media policies promote variety and independence in media, analysis focused on regulatory policy by making comparisons across Europe.

The third phase of the project will build on information gathered in the initial phases of the project in order to develop phase three, which according to MEDIADEM, is designed to “explain variable patterns of media policy [and] targeting media freedom and independence.”

The fourth and final phase of the project will attempt to enact change across media systems in Europe by formulating concrete strategy suggestions aimed at influencing both government and non-governmental policy makers.

The reports in all four phases of the project will be prepared through a variety of research tools, including the examination of primary and secondary resources, and semi structured interviews and conferences.

When complete, the project will have produced a monumental research portfolio which will include a theoretical report, one collective background report, 14 separate country-specific case studies, two comparative reports, a collective policy paper as well as numerous policy briefs, three case-study workshops, 14 national discussion groups, and one final MEDIADEM conference.

Target groups for the literature and research produced by MEDIADEM include the academic community, both government and non-governmental policy makers, media professionals, human rights organizations, and judicial authorities at the EU level, amongst others.

By taking an in depth look at the distinctive scenarios in all 14 countries, the MEDIADEM project has positioned itself to make meaningful suggestions that could make a long term impact in each market.

Further information as well the current research portfolio can be found here.

A comparison of the media’s scandalization of Hildebrand and Wulff.

Let us start with a false prognosis: Immediately preceding Swiss National Bank president Philipp Hildebrand’s public resignation, I predicted to a small group of students that – from a researcher’s perspective – German federal president Christian Wulff would be the first to resign in light of recent scandals. This misjudgment was induced by a recent study in which Hans Mathias Kepplinger, a researcher from the University of Mainz, explained the differences between a scandal and a media conflict. According to Kepplinger, scandals and media conflicts are similar due to the media’s tendency to denounce “actual or perceived grievances.” In the case of scandals, after a short period of time, “a broad consensus concerning the causes of the grievances and the responsibilities of their originators begins to form.” In the case of media conflict, there will be a public dispute over “how the causes of the grievances and the responsibilities of those being accused by the media should be treated.”

In comparing the Hildebrand case in Switzerland with the Wulff case in Germany, the original failures of both presidents can be judged as more or less tantamount. The financial advantage gained from the speculative deal of Hildebran’s wife was slightly higher and the insider transaction was also closer to the core business of the president of the Central Bank than the borrowing of cheap money from Wulff’s “friends and family.”

However, the procedures through which the media went about publicizing the scandals were very different: In Switzerland, the media conflict was localized between the populist right wing Weltwoche and the rest of the press, with a few publications providing different tones in between (the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, for example). In the Swiss online journal Medienwoch, Karl Lüönd, one of Switzerland’s best known media critics, wrote that the media’s initial reaction to the scandal had not been stimulated by “normal journalistic reflexes,” but rather by utilizing  a “common agenda” against the populist right wing politician Christoph Blocher, whose political friends seem to own and instrumentalize the Weltwoche. Indeed, concerning Hildebrand, the Swiss media exhibited a peculiar reluctance to bite. Such inhibitions would have been unthinkable in the U.S. or the United Kingdom, or any country operating with an Anglosaxon journalism culture, for that matter.

To the contrary, in Germany the media reached a consensus. A broad sweep of journalists – from the leftist-alternative taz, the conservative FAZ, Bild, the Frankfurter Rundschau and the public broadcasters –demanded Wulff’s resignation. However, this concord may be due in part to previous mistakes committed by Wulff, who’s done a mediocre job in attempting to hush one detail after another.

Kepplinger, who researched the scandal processes in the media for decades, summarizes that a media conflict primarily needs to be clarified by “how the verdict should look.” Yet conversely, in a scandal “the verdict is agreed upon after short time. The only remaining question is how and when it will be executed.“

Thus, I was surprised by the demission of Hildebrand who failed to await the final verdict of the Swiss media. Meanwhile, the scandal in Germany reached a new stage. The media wages the “war” which Wulff originally declared (miscalculating his own power completely) against Springer publishing and the editor-in-chief of Bild-Zeitung. The media continues feeding the frenzy with new and increasingly ridiculous details distributed daily. The campaign turned into a distasteful fight for power which would be unthinkable in Switzerland.

However, there is common ground between Swiss and German media in handling the scandal, as Nick Lüthi observed in Medienwoche, “The media’s own behavior has not been reflected on by the media thus far.” This can be said, with few exceptions, about the mainstream media. However, the media is already losing control over the discourse dealing journalism, as there is a lively ongoing debate in the German-speaking media where such blind spots (which also provide evidence of a lack of journalistic professionalism) are discussed.

Even if researchers should be cautious in making a prognosis, there is at least one prediction which can be made with a fair probability: Whether Wulff stays in office or resigns, there will be losers on both sides, as both sides will have lost credibility due to the moralizing of the media which tends to appear only after they’ve hunted prey, and the irrationality of the political class in Germany which trumps that of Switzerland by far.

Post script: Kepplinger provides a plausible explanation for why Wulff has stayed in office: He cannot be “dropped or impeached and therefore needs not to step down,” as long as “he can withstand the moral pressure.” Wulff’s calculus differs from the norm, “When he steps down, he will lose everything (including his apparatus).” If he fights to stay in office, he will “have a difficult time, but he will also ensure that he has enough time to make an acceptable departure.”

Originally published in Werbewoche, Nr. 1/2012.

*Hans Mathias Kepplinger: Die Mechanismen der Skandalisierung. München: Olzog Verlag (to be published in February 2012)

Is immersive storytelling the next big step in conflict reporting?

“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough,” the influential war photographer Robert Capa once said. Now, a new tablet application allows photographers to shoot 180-degree frameless stories straight from the frontlines. “Condition ONE will let people witness a story first-hand like never before,” promises its creator, American photojournalist and filmmaker Danfung Dennis.

Dennis explains that it all started from the frustration of not being able to report the real sense of what he had experienced as a war photographer in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Even though my images and documentary film were published and distributed widely, they were still a passive window into the reality I was witnessing, constrained by the frame,” he says.

Wishing to remedy this limitation, Dennis developed Condition ONE, an immersive video tablet app based on a Canon digital camera with video capability that captures human eyesight and engages viewers by giving them control on what and where to look in a 180-degree field of vision. Condition ONE “involves very affordable technology that any professional filmmaker can buy,” says Dennis.

Rethinking content

The French photographer Patrick Chauvel, who has followed wars around the world for forty years, was the first snapper to use this technology in the field. After meeting Dennis at a war correspondents awards ceremony and learning about the new app, Chauvel was eager to test it out. “It impressed me that someone who was a veteran of stills photojournalism would be so open to a new medium,” recalls Dennis.

The Condition ONE app, which was released in November 2011 and is free to download via the iTunes app store, comes with three short films shot by Chauvel. One of them is very raw, powerful footage he took on the front lines of the revolution in Libya in April 2011. The film came out several months before the app’s launch and drew the media’s attention towards the new technology.

Dennis predicts that the coming years will see “hundreds of millions of tablets” in people’s hands and that they will play a key role in changing the way one needs to think about content. “Eleven percent of US adults already own a tablet,” he says. “Media companies have realised they need to offer engaging content for these devices rather than repackaging old content in order to win over the new generations of users”. This means that photojournalists and filmmakers also need to keep up the pace with technological developments and learn how to use new devices that are coming out on the market.

An app such as Condition ONE implies a very different visual language behind the footage. “We have begun to develop the syntax and grammar for immersive storytelling,” explains Dennis. Framing is different, too. “You’re dealing with a different shape and different size image,” he says, “and it is very important to focus on the motion.”

“Filmmakers will want to get the most from the visual space so that users will be really able to explore a video,” he says.

Immersive storytelling

All of Chauvel’s short films have one specific element in common: the lack of a strong narrative. It is all about a stylistic choice,” says Dennis. “Traditional voiceovers and standups can take away from the visceral experience that we’re trying to offer. There is a dynamic between narrative and interactive that needs to be carefully considered.”

Time Magazine describes the demo content as being “more akin to a video game than a television news story” as the video films are devoid of any voice over commentary and only give viewers the sense of being present on the scene. Documentary filmmaker Nadia Hallgren criticised in particular the film shot in Libya for the lack of in-depth information: “There was no story there,” an article in the New York Times quoted her as saying. “You can tell a good story in five minutes with traditional methods – here, I just got an experience.”

For Dennis, the aim is to convey emotions.  “This is possible thanks to technology today that gives us the chance to create highly immersive experiences by combining together the narrative power of the still image with the interactivity of virtual reality,” he explains.

Will Condition ONE mark the end of the still image? “I don’t think its power will ever diminish, but it will evolve,” believes Dennis, who sees similarities between our era and that of the 1930s, when television made its first appearance in a mainstream media landscape until then dominated by the radio. “It is where we are now, except that we are moving towards powerful software and devices that are bringing us a new medium with a huge storytelling potential.”

A new frontier in war reporting?

Although he can’t reveal any figures at this point, Dennis says Condition ONE received enormous attention not only from media outlets, but also from several publishers as well as companies in the entertainment industry and film production companies. “The combination of video and interactivity provided by the app offers great potential,” Dennis explains.

The next step will be to make the app available for Android tablets and mobile phones. “The price of these devices will only continue to drop,” says Dennis. “Mobile phones have proliferated across developing countries and users there will leap over the desktop computing era, directly into the mobile era,” says Dennis.

Does Condition ONE mark a new frontier in storytelling and war coverage or is it simply entertainment with a realistic thrill?

When the app was launched last November, someone tweeted: “Condition ONE, the war journalist game, is apparently available on the iPad.” An official reply was quick to arrive: “It’s not a game. We’re an immersive video tech company licensing software to media. Patrick Chauvel’s videos are documentaries.” The next generation of shooters will have the last say.

Article contributed by Fabio Forin, original can be found at the European Journalism Centre.

“Shut off the TV when you know more than the anchorman.”

Such a recommendation, almost comically obvious, invites the recipient to ponder a number of scenarios in which its application could be startlingly judicious. In his latest book Slow News: A Manifesto for the Critical News Consumer (published in Italian by Sironi in Milano, with an American version to follow in 2012), Peter Laufer’s tokens of wisdom for the contemporary news consumer follow suit: they are rational, easy to abide and equally easy to overlook while managing a shrill world of tweets, feeds and perpetually breaking updates.

Laufer, an award-winning journalist toting a rich career in broadcast, documentary filmmaking, reporting and academia, offers readers a sensible set of guidelines for managing an ever-expanding info blitzkrieg. “We’re in danger of missing the story because of the noise,” he warns.

Convinced we must learn new ways to interpret a hyperactive news media, Laufer stresses his own motto: “Yesterday’s news tomorrow.” Unless you happen to be at the center of a particular news story yourself, just how imperative is it to gather straightdowntotheminute details chronicling an event occurring far, far away? Twenty-four hour news channels would certainly have us believe otherwise, with the endless stream of cliffhangers and pleas to stay tuned for “critical” updates. “Did you know Princess Diana personally?” asks Laufer. “Probably not. So, unless you’ve really got nothing better to do with your life, why is it necessary to be barraged with miniscule details and speculations about the crash that killed her?”

Laufer’s 30 rules for navigating the contemporary media terrain are simple, yet sharply pragmatic, (i.e. “Avoid echo chamber reporting”, “Read past the jump”, “Seek information that builds knowledge”). He encourages a certain re-empowerment of news audiences. “The news business relies on its customers consuming news, not making news,” he writes. “If we allow the constant babble of news – or worse, a news-like babble – to intimidate us into believing there is nothing we can do to effect change, that news and more news is just going to happen to us, we deserve what we get.” In other words: take some initiative. Unless, of course, you’re content to flop on the couch and let a pack of howling media pundits dictate which events you care about.

The clear product of a well-explored news career, Slow News is a treat to read, marked with humor and a healthy dash of anecdotes from the field. As carnivorous, moderately overfed news consumers, we are tactfully reminded to chew before swallowing.

A shorter version of this review appeared in German in Schweizer Journalist Nr. 12/2011 + 1/2012.

Anyone sitting in front of the television in Italy for half an hour, especially in the evening, would soon believe we’re all in dire need of a clairvoyant.

This is because astrologers, fortune-tellers, and all sorts of psychics claiming to be blessed with supernatural powers are thriving on a variety of small and private channels.

A woman who fell victim to the famous television healer Vanna Marchi testified: “I told her my son had cancer. She gave me a private consultation for a big sum of money. She said that the case was severe and that in order to ease the progress of my son’s illness, she needed quadruple the amount. If I did not pay, my son’s fate would be tragic. I told her firmly that I wouldn’t give her any more money. She replied that I didn’t love my son”. Marchi was later arrested and her television programme was cancelled.

According to the institute of political, economic and social studies Eurispes, 13 millions of Italians consult fortune-tellers every year for a total business volume of EUR 6 billion. This means that 35,000 women and men pay a total of EUR 1,6 million a day for the services of a medium.

Data compiled by the Italian tax police Guardia di Finanza indicates that 150,000 psychics are practising in the Italian Peninsula.

Surprisingly, a high rate of mediums, 42 percent, are living and working in the rich northern regions, rather than in “Mezzogiorno” (southern Italy), which has a reputation of being the most superstitious part of the country.

Indeed, the 2011 annual report Magic and Occultism in Italy compiled by consumer organisation Telefono Antiplagio, denounced thousands of cases of abuse for profit and confirmed that the worst affected region is paradoxically the most developed Lombardy.

Campania and Lazio come second on the list, with the cities of Naples and Rome at the top. Sicily occupies the third position.

Financial deals with television channels
Why are spiritual programmes flourishing on local private television channels? The reason seems to be that small channels have established a large amount of contractual agreements with psychics, in order to secure a solid base of paid sponsorship to help them survive.

A former television fortune-teller recalls: “I used to invent things to scare callers and tell them things like “Someone has cast a deadly evil spell on you,” so that they would ring us 20 times. We were experts in brainwashing.”

On screen, psychics emphasise the fact that they do not charge high fees.“Mago Mariano” opens his programme with the words: “With little money I will put an end to all your misfortunes and you will not have to lie in despair on your sofa anymore.”

In reality, however, “psychics are able to drain big amounts of money,” says professor Giovanni Panunzio, a teacher of religion in Sardinia and the founder of Telefono Antiplagio. “Because of the crisis, their prices have gone down, but demand is also rising.”

Some of them hide their large profits, evading even the “Fisco” (tax office).  “The most frequent criminal activities among psychics are fraud, extortion, unauthorized practice of medicine, abuse of people with mental disabilities,” Panunzio explains. “Only five percent of the cases are reported to the police, because of the victims’ fear of being blackmailed.”

There are also television shows that unmask fraudulent psychics, such as Massimo Giletti’s Arenaon Rai 1, and Canale 5’s cult programme Striscia la Notizia.

Giletti often obtains interviews with families who confess pathetic stories of their ruin: “We are up to our necks in debt for trusting these television swindlers,” one victim said.

The power of magic
Why are such live programmes so popular, one might ask? And what are their loyal viewers looking for?

More than half of the people who pick up their phone to take part in the programme, or 52 percent, wish to solve sentimental troubles.  Another large group of callers, 40,5 percent, are curious to find out what the future has in store for them;  viewers’ questions can also be related to job hunting, 24 percent, or to health issues, 13 percent. A smaller group of callers, 6 percent, are seeking to get rid of the “malocchio” or evil eye.

Psychic television programmes attract two opposite categories of viewers: the believers and the skeptics. The latter usually watch for entertainment purposes or out of curiosity for the mediums’ often excentric looks, accents and manners.

These shows work because “Italians express belief in magic, regardless of their level of education” says physics researcher Stefano Bagnasco and coordinator of Cicap, an Italian institute monitoring paranormal issues founded by scientific journalist Piero Angela and supported by Nobel Prize winner Rita Levi Montalcini and writer Umberto Eco.

For callers, the danger lies in the fact that psychics invite them at the end of the show to ring them back, with the intent to create dependency, as highlighted by the Cicap study.

On television the average age of the callers is 42 years old.  Fifty-one percent are women, 38 percent are men and 11 percent are adolescents. Fifteen percent of them have a university degree. They spend between EUR 30 to 600 per session.

Vittorio Amedeo Marinelli, who works as a lawyer for Telefono Antiplagio, describes the level of attention given to magic in the media: “Leading publishers sell more advertising space to psychics. At the top of the list, Berlusconi’s Mediavideo promotes psychics’ services on its three main channels 24 hours a day. Pagine Gialle (Yellow Pages) by Seat comes next. It is followed by the RCS Group with their magazine Astra.”

The emergence of online psychics
Now Facebook and Ebay are also publishing advertisements for magic readings.

Due to the high level of unemployment a new type of online psychics has also emerged.  Unemployed people, students and housewives are being recruited as receptionists with occult powers. “It’s a war among the poor,” lawyer Marinelli said.

It is difficult to investigate the accurate number of psychics who are practising online.  On their websites, they offer talismans warding off the evil eye and potions that rekindle the flame in a worn out relationship.

They also promise big winnings. Michele R. testifies: “An internet clairvoyant predicted me a big scratch card win within the next few hours. I rushed to the tobacco shop and bought a scratch-card. I scratched it. Look what I won: two euros. I should denounce that site.”

Online medium “Professor Alpha” was arrested after being denounced by a woman whom he had forced to pay millions of euros for a rite of protection against bad luck he performed through his laptop.

Father Gabriele Amorth, the former Chief exorcist for the Vatican, said: “Channels hosting frauds and treating them as scientists, must be blamed.”

Self-regulation?
In the end, the question boils down to the age-old argument: who is to blame, the drug user or the drug dealer?

Beyond the fact that wrongdoings require punishment, the important issue in moral terms is to test the efficiency of the self-regulation code for tv shopping and cartomancy introduced by the former Minister of Communications, Maurizio Gasparri.

“That law is a gift for charlatans who want to misuse television,” says Panunzio, “because they do not commit their crimes in front of the cameras, but behind the scenes. This often happens with the channels’ complicity: their owners and managers pretend not to see nor hear anything.”

According to Article 21 of the Public Safety Laws “Testo Unico Leggi Pubblica Sicurezza”, it is illegal for anyone to engage in charlatan activities.

“So why do many of them advertise on television? Because the Gasparri law lends credibility to quacks,” Panunzio argues.

The best advice? Simply do not fall into their nets.