Political Instrumentalization of Media Discourse on the Covid-19 Pandemic in Serbia: Reporting and some Normative Aspects ; Politička instrumentalizacija medijskog diskursa o pandemiji kovida 19 u Srbiji: izveštavanje i neki normativni aspekti

The subject of this study is the media discourse on the Covid-19 pandemic in the Republic of Serbia, with special emphasis on the normative aspects of media policy during the state of emergency (March 15 – May 6, 2020). The main goal is to examine whether the media in Serbia report freely and independently or just function instrumentally as mediators of the political agenda. Hence, the the first part of the research is focused on the normative order. By the method of comparative analysis of legal documents, the paper shows the inconsistency of the instrumental measures of media policy in the specified period, with binding norms announced in international conventions and declarations on freedom of speech. In the second part of the research, some media discourse indicators on Covid-19 political instrumentalization were identified, using the Critical discourse analysis. The hypothesis has been proven, that basis for the political instrumentalization of the media reporting was established in a normative way, by applying disproportionate measures in the field of informing about the pandemic, and consequently developed by discursive practice in the media newsrooms, to mobilize public support to the Government's measures. ; Predmet istraživanja je medijski diskurs o pandemiji kovida 19 u Republici Srbiji, s posebnim naglaskom na normativne aspekte medijske politike u periodu vanrednog stanja (15.3–6.5.2020). Glavni cilj istraživanja je da ispita da li mediji u Srbiji izveštavaju slobodno i nezavisno o pandemiji kovida 19 ili deluju na instrumentalan način, kao posrednici političke agende. Stoga je prvi deo istraživanja fokusiran na normativni poredak. Metodom uporedne analize pravnih dokumenata pokazana je neusaglašenost instrumentalnih mera medijske politike u naznačenom periodu, sa obavezujućim normama saopštenim u međunarodnim konvencijama i deklaracijama o slobodi govora. U drugom delu istraživanja identifikovani su neki indikatori političke instrumentalizacije medijskog izveštavanja o pandemiji kovida 19, pomoću ...