MOBI JOURNALISM IN SLOVENIA

Abstract

The practice of so-called mobi journalism at a commercial television station, which has been promoting itself as the first case of citizen journalism in Slovenia, is explored by text analysis combined with an analysis of discourse processes using ethnographic methods. The article examines whether the television station actually follows the purposes of this model of audience participation. The analysis reveals that it is, in fact, a market-driven quasi-citizen journalism practice, abusing the term “citizen journalism” and exploiting new media technologies for commercial purposes. In the news published on the website and in the television programme, it is the media producers who covertly make key decisions, defining the content and the structure of the news; while the audience members’ activity is reduced to “spying” (searching for and taking photos of alleged offences or irregularities by lower public officials) and denunciating (sending such photos to a television station). The success of this practice results from an unusual connection between the past socialist and contemporary profits-oriented journalistic practices and behaviour patterns.

Keywords:

• citizen journalism
• critical discourse analysis
• media ethics
• new media
• Slovenia
• television journalism

Notes

1. After the user contributions were accepted, the ratings increased over 6 per cent in a month (AGB Nielsen, 2007).

2. For example, daily newspapers Delo (http://www.delo.si), Dnevnik (http://www.dnevnik.si) and Žurnal24 (www.zurnal24.si).

3. For example, RTL Televizija (http://www.rtl.hr) and 24 sata (http://www.24sata.hr).

4. In the Slovenian language, “mobi” is a popular expression used instead of “mobile”. The term “mobi journalism” is used to describe a specific journalistic practice, which is based upon photographs taken using cameras inside mobile phones and sent in to the media by audience members.

5. Whenever the term “citizen journalism” is used in this article, it refers to common characteristics of all models of audience participation, as mentioned above, regardless of their potential differences.