It is easy to become a journalist, but hard to be one

It is very easy to become a journalist in Serbia, but there are only a few true journalists and even less those who manage to survive as journalists.

It is easy because anyone who writes anything, including on their own blog, could claim to be a journalist. At the same time, there is no clear legal difference between media professionals and professional scribblers. As is frequently the case, letters from readers or columns written by more or less widely known figures are mistaken for journalism, leading to court proceedings.

Journalists who are properly trained for their job and who adhere to professional standards defined by the Code are few and far between; they are a small minority compared to around 8,000 "journalists". The hyperproduction of human resources in journalism has been caused largely by the fact that Serbia is overwhelmed by media outlets: national, regional and local media, electronic and print media, as well as the so-called new media – mostly in the internet.

The Register of Public Media Outlets has more than 850 entries, which means that each media outlet employs around 10 journalists on average, including main editors and apprentices. If we take into account that the media at the national level have tens or even hundreds of employed journalists, it is clear that small media outlets can only afford to have a few workers for all the necessary jobs.

Therefore, the media are forced to adopt a less-ambitious concept, to legally or illegally copy from others, base their news programme solely on agency news (at the same time, the agencies also suffer from the lack of personnel) or publish anonymous sources or information received via special channels. The latter two symptoms are exhibited by national media outlets as well, and are again caused by the lack of trained journalists and abundance of unskilled, sometimes uneducated and even illiterate personnel.

In a cause-and-effect chain of events, anonymous and remotely-controlled information lowers the criteria and the required level of professionalism, thereby inviting the even less skilled and educated to join the profession after their failure in school or other field of work. And the vicious circle continues. The enormous supply of personnel has resulted in the rise of the co-called "dictaphone journalism" which blindly and uncritically records and distributes words spoken at various "events" that are, in a twist of irony, often organized by previous journalists working as PR managers.

Unreliable news and statements are often accompanied by numerous opinions taking so much space that we can name a new syndrome – columnism. Comments on everything are written by doctors, politicians, writers, actors, managers, sportsmen... and least by professional journalists. The space in their own media outlet, that used to be offered only to best journalists to comment on an issue, today is unsparingly given to anyone. On the other side, those journalists who are highly valued in the market often abuse their talent and write for several media outlets at the same time. Such cloned columns are often written to fit the media outlet that will publish them, leading to the situation that the same author has different opinions on the same subject.

There are two reasons for all these symptoms – poverty, on one side, and political voluntarism, on the other side. These factors have shaped the media that we have today, susceptible to political turbulences and demands from tycoons.

Professional journalists find it increasingly hard to survive in the media because financial sustainability has become more important than the media's adherence to the concept or mission that would fulfill the main purpose of existence of the media – making information available to the public. The economic crisis has only deepened the financial and professional misery. If we factor in the almost unbeliveable unavailability of sources – especially those that are legally obliged to transparency – and the brazen intention of the government to influence the media, as well as the unfair competition by those who are prepared to meet any demand by politicians or money masters, it is clear why there are so few highly professional journalists and well-discussed topics, and why journalism is held in such a low esteem by journalists themselves and the public. It is also clear why it is so difficult to be a journalist.

Jelka Jovanovic

MC Newsletter,
March 12, 2010