The Impact of Media Concentration on Professional ... - OSCE

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Another tendency is that newspapers are increasingly trying tointeract with the audience. This is the reason why there aremore and more local dailies for communities and districts. Ofcourse, the focus <strong>of</strong> these papers is on news from these communitiesor districts, but they also include a lot <strong>of</strong> informationfrom other regions and nationwide news. <strong>The</strong> fight for a share<strong>of</strong> the readership is also bringing another tendency: newspapersare becoming flattering. <strong>The</strong> content <strong>of</strong> the newspapers showsthis. Serious press has become more and more boulevard.We know that quite a number <strong>of</strong> factors play a role in thepopularity <strong>of</strong> a certain newspaper. For example, a populationsticking to traditions is very much into reading regional papers.Or if a newspaper has a sense for what their readers deemimportant, thereby encouraging readers’ trust in the paper, atitle stays popular. But also the overall economic situation isinfluencing the circulation. If people hardly have money to buyfood, they won’t buy a newspaper.In Lithuania there is no accountable institution that is collectingdata on the circulation <strong>of</strong> newspapers. Advertising customers,politicians and employees <strong>of</strong> government institutionsthink that the results <strong>of</strong> market research show the actual circulation<strong>of</strong> print media. Unfortunately we know that thisresearch does not always correctly reflect reality.Legal Status <strong>of</strong> Journalists in LithuaniaDiscussions on what qualifies one to be a journalist go ontoday not only in Lithuania, but also in foreign countries andthere are quite a number <strong>of</strong> opinions on this. <strong>The</strong> variety <strong>of</strong>mass media and their differences are bringing up questionsregarding the status <strong>of</strong> people working for journalistic media.In Lithuania it is at least legally defined what the information<strong>of</strong> the public and a journalist is. This is the reason why I donot only want to take a look at the traditional judgement andprevailing view on journalists but also at the legal provisionswith regard to information <strong>of</strong> the public in Lithuania. <strong>The</strong>social changes that force journalists to change and also at thesame time, call on society to alter the legal status <strong>of</strong> journalistswill be considered.160 THE IMPACT OF MEDIA CONCENTRATION ON PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM
Looking at modern mass media that <strong>of</strong>ten only strive forinformation and entertainment, some criteria seem to replaceall other: as fast as possible, as much as possible and as funnyas possible. <strong>The</strong>refore, other important things are quite <strong>of</strong>tenforgotten.<strong>The</strong> same standards that apply for other businesses can notbe applied to mass media. In Lithuania there is no discussionon the topic <strong>of</strong> whether journalism is becoming just anothercheap product. More and more examples can be found thatshow that it is becoming difficult to differentiate actual informationfrom advertisement and from hidden advertisement,or to see the author’s interest. Now, if the legal status <strong>of</strong> journalistsin the information society is becoming unclear pseudojournalismwill emerge. If business interest takes the mostimportant position, there won’t be any room for independentand free journalism.One <strong>of</strong> the most important guarantees for the independenceand autonomy <strong>of</strong> journalists and other people from thissector is social and economic security. A liberal system <strong>of</strong> wagecompensation would be an excellent instrument for owners <strong>of</strong>mass media to suppress journalists. Complete financial independencetoday is one <strong>of</strong> the biggest problems for the safeguarding<strong>of</strong> the status <strong>of</strong> independent journalists in Lithuania.Pr<strong>of</strong>essional groups’ organizations <strong>of</strong> journalists are discordantand continue to split up further. Thus only the status<strong>of</strong> an independent journalist can be a real guarantee for a freepress in a society. It is necessary to identify new pr<strong>of</strong>essionalstandards to clearly define what a journalist is.What has to be ChangedAt the moment there are a lot <strong>of</strong> political and financial powersthat carry influence in Lithuania that neither feel responsible,nor do they act in a responsible way. <strong>The</strong> system <strong>of</strong> self regulation<strong>of</strong> the press is weak. In many cases the owners <strong>of</strong> printmedia are editors-in-chief at the same time. This is to say thatin Lithuania we have a free press but no free journalism. Untiltoday we didn’t have a single serious newspaper in Lithuania.COUNTRY REPORTS – LITHUANIA 161
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REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE ME
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ContentsPrefaceby Freimut Duve 9Int
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6. Conclusions 187AnnexQuestionnair
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advertisement is very insecure, mak
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industrial lobbying groups still di
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1. The Imp
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sidents” had been imprisoned. “
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determined Freedom of</stro
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co-operate fully with the OSCE Repr
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Such independence, however, comes a
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and mirror of the
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30 million rely exclusively on info
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Unchecked, concentration will reduc
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protected, a certain level
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indication of the
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time, as the concept of</st
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It appears, however, that this posi
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1.7 New Threats on the Horizon1.7.1
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owns or controls not only the three
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Target countries sometimes interpre
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independence proposed by the OSCE R
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groups to grow. And there is the in
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areas of Central a
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Directly or indirectly Mr. Silvio B
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Yet this simple notion appears to b
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newspaper firms. Using the argument
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a contribution to democratization a
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tation of this for
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This limitation in no way indicates
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press is ridiculous. Journalists co
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But these progressive aspects <stro
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Nevertheless, the loss of</
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may well be true for journalists fr
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Is there a works council at your ne
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will go to television, this being t
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Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
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Good relations with the business co
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Further, how can a newspaper, whose
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Service for civil society (%) Fig.
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The Norwegian medi
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Have you ever been put under pressu
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Do you feel threatened in your posi
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4. Number of Title
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5. Country Reports5.1 Germany5.1.1
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Süddeutsche Zeitung (463,000), Lei
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publisher, the Axel Springer Verlag
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A three directional strategy is wha
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5.1.2 Survey ResultsBacked by tradi
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Cross-ownership has also increased
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Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234515,
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Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 109 and 110: Understandably all German journalis
Page 111 and 112: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 113 and 114: As also seen in Germany, the data p
Page 115 and 116: 5.2.2 Survey ResultsFinland compete
Page 117 and 118: Newspaper chains were the logical r
Page 119 and 120: 5.3 United Kingdom5.3.1 Country Rep
Page 121 and 122: • Daily Mail and General Trust: D
Page 123 and 124: Is there a works council at your ne
Page 125 and 126: Economic revenue (%) Fig. 61234510,
Page 127 and 128: Service for civil society (%) Fig.
Page 129 and 130: Do you feel free to voice and write
Page 131: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 134 and 135: Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 30.1M
Page 136 and 137: As regards ownership concentration,
Page 138 and 139: Financial BackgroundDespite the pre
Page 140 and 141: 5.4.2 Survey resultsIf Finnish jour
Page 142 and 143: of those mini-comp
Page 144 and 145: for example, is very clear on this
Page 148 and 149: 5.5.2 Survey ResultsAn anonymous It
Page 150 and 151: portfolio. In addition, as democrat
Page 152 and 153: Mr. Berlusconi’s TV advertisement
Page 154 and 155: 5.6 Lithuania5.6.1 Country ReportCa
Page 156 and 157: is quite remarkable. The</s
Page 158 and 159: Lithuania is a small country with a
Page 162 and 163: Only in 2003, the daily newspaper L
Page 166 and 167: October 22 2003 was an historic dat
Page 168 and 169: 5.7.2 Survey ResultsSince the end <
Page 170 and 171: y a mostly anonymous to the general
Page 172 and 173: On a daily, practical basis there
Page 174 and 175: Newspaper reach (%)All Adults 15Sou
Page 176 and 177: so-called “human interest” stor
Page 178 and 179: indicated that Rodipet applies a di
Page 180 and 181: 5.8.2 Survey ResultsAlthough a smal
Page 182 and 183: 12345Objectivity (%) Fig. 57,114,32
Page 184 and 185: Strengthening of d
Page 186 and 187: Do you feel threatened in your posi
Page 188 and 189: emerging CEE countries with regard
Page 190 and 191: - Create in all OSCE participating
Page 193 and 194: Organization for Security and Co-op
Page 195 and 196: 1. In which country are you working
Page 197 and 198: 17. Who defines the editorial line
Page 199 and 200: 29. How would you describe the situ
Page 201 and 202: - This common code of</stro
Page 203 and 204: Personal and business interestsIt i
Page 205: Orkla Media’s
Page 208: www.osce.org/fomJohannes von Dohnan
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