Electronic Library of Scientific Literature



OTAZKY ZURNALISTIKY



Volume 41 / No. 1/ 1998

 

 


Global and Historical Co-ordinates of Media Transformation in the Slovak Republic

Jozef Darmo

The author characterises the main features of contemporary process of media systems' transformation in the post-communist countries and, especially, in Slovakia. He argues that: 1) Communities in these countries still live in the period of transition from totality to democracy, 2) The new institutions securing democratic transformation stabilise in terms of their jurisdiction but have not fully used their potential, 3) By totality devastated legal consciousness weakens the legal stability of the society and the respect for law, 4) The political system is being crystallised, political structures of parties are more declared and artificially created than springing from social movement below, and are not nurtured by this movement, 5) The media system undergoes the process of complex transformation. Not only privatisation and commercialisation is present, but also changes in communication technology, 6) The process of liberation from residues of totality, and adopting the alphabet of democracy result in complications and even conflicts. The new communication culture is only being formed, often hampered by suspicion, distrust, which produce irreconcilable conflict. The politicians, journalists and public interpret, and in practice often controversially apply individual principles of democracy, 7) Also the professional circles of journalists, publishers, public and private media only look for their right status and functions in society, their relation to the existing political system, public and citizen, as well as professional solidarity, tolerance in their own professional environment.

pp. 1-6

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Conditions for the National Media Market Developments in the Process of Globalisation and Regionalisation

Kosta Gouliamos

This study deals mainly with the impact of media globalisation on the national markets developments. The author states that the relationship between globalisation and national media market is a blend of antagonisms and co-operation. The internal social structures specific to each country's economic commitments, constitution and culture must take the strain of increasing communication between the citizens of these countries and a wider world in which human rights in general and citizens' rights within the information society in particular will be a political challenge. According to the author, the globalisation may: a) lead to an elimination of unskilled jobs and the deskilling of many other occupations, b) cause restrictions on the accessibility of information as well the capacity of a given power system, c) make an invasion of privacy posed by the electronic systems, d) divide and fracture our planet and increase disparities (between both the North and South, and between different social groups within nations), e) increase the corporate control over the provision of information and, therefore, culture, f) raise risks for intellectual rights. The author believes that the characteristics described in his study provide the basis of a rational approach for considering the long term policy framework suitable for handling new transactional services between European Union and Central and East European countries. However, transitional arrangement must reflect socio-cultural concerns and will have to recognise different starting points of each individual state.

pp. 6-12

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Possibilities and Limits of the Slovak Media Market

Samuel Breèka

The author argues that possibilities of development and functioning of the national media markets depend generally on numerous internal (domestic) and outer (foreign, international, global) factors. The most important are: 1) domestic and international legislative conditions, 2) economic conditions in general (the development of domestic and international economy and related development of advertising market as the economic basis of media existence), 3) capacity of media market (its size), and 4) development of communication technologies.
Using the Slovak media market as an example, the author discuses these factors and their impact. He realises that the Slovak media market is small, poor, unbalanced and badly regulated. Because of its small capacity, the Slovak media market is: a) not attractive for the strong foreign partners, b) prone to risk from business point of view, c) vulnerable from outside,
d) strongly dependent on import of cheap media (audio-visual) products since domestic production is relatively expensive, e) has limited investment sources and thus limited possibilities of technological development, and f) more dependent on protection, subsidies, and assistance of state which may effect media independence.

pp. 12-15

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Danish Media Law and EU-Regulation

Vibeke G. Petersen

Dealing with television regulation, the author concentrates on the issue of bringing national broadcasting legislation into line with the EU Directive on "Television without frontiers" - how it was done in Denmark, and why it is necessary. According to author, the implementation of the directive into Danish broadcasting legislation was fairly simple because Danish rules on advertising and sponsorship were already in conformity with European rules. The problems arose at the political level. The Danish government claimed that television belongs in the sphere of culture, and since culture did not form part of the Treaty, the European Union had no right to regulate television. This particular Danish problem was solved when the Treaty was amended to incorporate culture. But the rules on quotas of European content have continued to be controversial not only in Denmark but in the Union. The resistance against fixed quota has been interpreted by some as a surrender to the American film industry and a lack of concern for the survival of the European audiovisual industry. The author do not agree with this view. She argues that the most often repeated reason was rather that quotas do not guarantee good quality.
The author concludes her paper wit the most interesting addition to the directive - the rules on major sports events on TV. The new article, in view of the author, is interesting because it recognises that the increasing commercialisation of television poses a threat to free television. The prices of television rights to important sports events have skyrocketed during the last few years. With the tendency towards fewer and bigger media dominating the market, big events may become too expensive for free TV stations. Ordinary viewers may than be excluded from following such events on TV, and as a result society is deprived of some of its cultural cohesion.

pp. 15-18

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Harmonisation of the National Media Legislation with the Amended Directive "Television without Frontiers"

Loic Taillanter

This paper deals with the French approach to the EU Directive "Television without Frontiers". The author concentrates on the French proposals to revise the Directive from 1989. The main aim of these proposals was to support diffusion of the European audiovisual works as well as to strengthen the European programme industry in order to be able to compete with American audiovisual industry. The author discusses two big questions: Quotas on European programmes and transmission of major events. The quotas were the main point of disagreement during the last few years' negotiations over the amended directive - with a minority of countries plus the European Parliament wanting a fixed quota (of minimum 51%) and a majority insisting on a certain flexibility being kept in the directive. The author also deals with the rules relating to major events on TV. To his view, the organizers of these events are fully allowed to sell the television rights for these events. The last part of the papers discusses protection of minors against violence, eroticism and pornography in films, television programmes and serials. He presents classification of programmes in five categories: 1) Programmes for general public, 2) programmes with scenes which may offend young audiences, 3) films and programmes banned for children under 12 and programmes which may offend young audiences, especially if the physical and psychical violence in scenario is systematically repeated, 4) films and erotic programmes banned for youth under 16 which portrayal an excessive violence and therefore may negatively affect the physical and psychical health of minors, 5) programmes with pornography and extreme violence which may seriously damage the physical and psychical health of minors.

pp. 19-22

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The European Audiovisual Industry - Challenges for the XXI. Century

Nuno Almeide Conde

The author discuses media market developments in the process of media globalisation and the role of Europe in the global market. Firstly he states that emergence of global players in the audiovisual sector is due to the present trend for horizontal concentration of companies in this sector. Secondly he pointed out that concentration in the audiovisual sector follows traditional capitalistic rules: concentration reinforces companies transaction power vis-a-vis distributors and generates scale economies.
For the European audiovisual industry, it must be able to compete on a global market. Alliances between audiovisual companies turn out to be on of the finest solutions to produce the required investments and scale economies in the audiovisual capital-intensive industry. Europe has a huge audiovisual consumption potential. Digitalisation will expand the audiovisual market rather than replace existing contents and services. Conventional media such as written press or free-to-air television will not disappear. The "free TV" model will remain dominant. However, revenues from cable subscription, pay TV, pay-per-view, video and cinema ticket sales are expected to grow faster than television advertising. The author mentions that in the analogue age scarcity of transmission capacity was the main concern. Now, the digital problem is going to be the scarcity of contents. Therefor, low cost production will be vital to the competitiveness of the European audiovisual industry.

pp. 22-25

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Media Audiences 1997

František Šinka

Keywords: continual research - watching television - television news - listening to the radio - reading the press

This study analyses research data on the public's exposure to the media in Slovakia. The data collected by the Institute for Public Opinion Research in spring 1997 are compared with the older findings of this institution. Doing so, the author has placed the last research results in the broader context which enable him not only to interpret the last findings but also to suggest the possible developments in the future. The results show that the most frequently watched TV station is the private TV Markíza (viewed daily by 48% of the adult population) followed by the public channel STV 1 (39,1%), the second channel of the Slovak Television STV 2 (16,4%), the Czech TV station NOVA (12,3) and satellite and cable channel VTV (5,4%). The most often heard radio is the first channel of the Slovak Radio Slovensko 1 (40,9% daily), then Rock FM Radio (the third channel of the Slovak Radio) (17,9%). The most popular private radios are FUN Radio (9,5%) and Radio Twist (6,8%). The Slovak press market is dominated by dailies Nový Èas (24%) and Pravda (14,7%).

pp. 29-41

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Programme Offer of the Slovak TV Companies and Attitudes of the Slovak Population to it

Igor Boháè - ¼ubor Hallon

Keywords: programme schedule - dual broadcasting system - content's structure - content analysis - programme types, categories and formats - broadcast's provenience - broadcasting place - sociological pilot study - evaluating attitudes - range of preference - public service institution

The authors deal in detail with the results of comparative content analysis of the programme offer of the Slovak television channels STV, VTV and Markíza as well as with public's attitudes to this offer.
In order to achieve the research aim, the authors used two relatively independent levels of analysis and different methodology. First of all, they analysed complexly the programme offer of the four TV channels (STV 1, STV 2, VTV, Markiza) which are accessible for the majority of the Slovak population. That offer was analysed according to the main attributes by which the programme schedule is determined. That means, the programme offer was analysed according to programme types, categories and genres as well as according to the programme's provenience. At the same time, the authors tried to decode the target age groups of analysed programmes. Totally, 7 478 programme items were analysed.
Simultaneously, the authors conducted the sociological pilot study in order to identify the viewers attitudes to some aspects of the programme schedule, their selectivity, and their preference for some programme types. They also searched for viewers' evaluating attitudes to the profile entertaining programmes of the channels under inquiry and for factors determining the viewers communication behaviour. The survey was conducted among the Slovak adult population using the sample of 1148 interviewees.
The analysis showed that television programme offer is sufficiently wide and could, under some conditions, to saturate spiritual needs of the Slovak population.
As for real use of the programme offer, it is evident that newscasts of the STV and Markiza are preferred. Films and series are more watched on Markiza TV, while home drama and entertainment are more frequently watched on STV.
Generally, the analysis of the TV programme offer could reveal some facts which are not obvious at the first glance. Exactly, these facts accompanied by the viewers' attitudes to the different programme attributes could be worthy for media managers to compose the programme schedule of their TV channels.

pp. 43-61

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Z VÝSKUMOV

DIVÁCKE ZÁZEMIE STV A TV MARKÍZA
NÁRODNOSTNÁ OTÁZKA V DENNÍKOCH PRAVDA, ÚJ SZÓ, SLOVENSKÁ REPUBLIKA, SME

pp. 62-73

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RECENZIE
pp. 74-76

ZO ZAHRANIÈIA
pp. 77-83

KRONIKA
pp. 84-87

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