Seven dailies whose head bureaus are distributed across three cities publish in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Oslobodjenje, Dnevni Avaz, Jutarnje Novine and SAN in Sarajevo, Nezavisne Novine and Glas Srpske in Banja Luka and Dnevni List in Mostar. Most media analysts agree that the number of dailies is too high in view of the fact that Bosnia-Herzegovina has a population of only 3.6 million. However, the consequences of national division, war and complicated state and territorial organization were logically reflected, both in terms of number and content, on the press in the country. It is unrealistic to expect, as some foreign factors are claiming, that it is best for Bosnia-Herzegovina to have two or three dailies. In a country consisting of two entities (federal units) and with three still deeply confronted constituent peoples, who are also deeply divided inside themselves, it is not possible at present to expect a considerable reduction in the number of daily newspapers.

Dnevni Avaz and Oslobodjenje are immeasurably the two most influential papers in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and by circulation they also exceed papers in the other entity. But, apart from this general assessment, it is very hard to show real figures on circulations, and even harder figures on the number of sold copies. Newspaper managements guard circulation figures as if they were a “military secret” or over-exaggerate them considering them a measure of political power and bait for advertisers, which contributes to papers’ self-sustainability. According to Media Plan Institute data obtained from relevant persons in these newsrooms, Dnevni Avaz has a huge range in circulations, from 35,000 to the unbelievable, at least for this region, 103,000 copies. Oslobodjenje’s circulation ranges around a modest 10,000. The fact that this is the second highest circulation paper shows the devastating situation of other newspapers in the country, especially Nezavisne Novine from Banja Luka which is the only one distributed equally in both entities. This raises the question of how it is possible for the other five dailies to find it worth their while to publish every day with circulations ranging from 4,000 to 9,000 copies. But this piece of information, although intriguing, is not the subject of this analysis.

Primarily, we wanted to gain an insight into how daily newspapers in Bosnia-Herzegovina announce and cover events on the front page, what are the top events, what are the dominant issues, and to use quantitative analysis to observe what forms of journalism are used, how headlines, sub-headlines and superscript headlines are used, and to spot potential manipulation and other examples of non-professionalism.

One of the characteristics of this monitoring project is that it was implemented by students of the 6^th generation of the Media Plan High College of Journalism from Sarajevo, with assistance from and under the leadership of Radenko Udovicic, coordinator on the subject of press and media analyst. Students who did the monitoring and analysis come from different parts of the former Yugoslavia: Mubarek Asani, Tetovo (Macedonia), Marija Nenezic, Budva (Serbia and Montenegro), Davor Marko, Subotica (Serbia and Montenegro) and Namir Ibrahimovic, Olovo (Bosnia-Herzegovina).

Students monitored one or two daily newspapers each. They noted down on each front page all contents/announcements and divided them into the following categories:

-          domestic politics

-          economy

-          neighbors

-          world

-          culture, science and education

-          sport

-          black chronicle

-          life

-          announcement of a newspaper supplement

-          advertisements

The number of printed photographs was recorded separately and they were also divided into the above categories. Of the mentioned categories, perhaps only Life deserves a special explanation. Life refers to, for example, strikes, pensioners, problems related to issuance of passports and other personal documents, as well as other issues in so-called everyday interest of citizens. Although we expected Domestic Politics to dominate in all newspapers, it was established that Dnevni Avaz and Oslobodjenje, at least on the front page, have Life most often. However, this needs to be viewed conditionally since front page headlines such as “Pensions on Monday,” when we look into the paper and read the article, change the qualification because they show political and economic problems and disagreements, where just one fact – that pensioners will get money – perhaps comes from the imaginary section called Life. Everything else falls under the bleak domestic political picture.

Common for all papers is a desire to be universal heralds and to cover a broad range of issues – from events at state and entity level, through world and on to show business. A paper that partly deviates from this is SAN, once called Sarajevske Novine (Sarajevo Paper) and intending to have a purely local character, which was evident from the name. Even now the paper places emphasis, at least according to the front page, on various local events, but not just in Sarajevo; also in other parts of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

After one-month-long monitoring, one gets the impression that daily papers in Bosnia-Herzegovina do not always have the most fortunate composition of headlines and sub(superscript) headlines. Often looking up close at the headlines themselves, we get an unclear picture of what it is all about since additional explanation is written in small font in the sub-headline or sometimes is not there at all.

As for photographs, as one author has said, heads dominate, of course heads of politicians. There are also a lot of group pictures from important political meetings, as well as many photographs related to the Black Chronicle, primarily various accidents. Some of these photographs verged on being unethical, but in our opinion did not cross this variable boundary. A paper that differs, at least in this regard, is Glas Srpske, a daily from Banja Luka and the only monitored paper owned by the state, whose front pages are dominated by pictures related to Life – couples in love, people strolling in the street, babies in maternity hospitals, etc.

Although some earlier research projects carried out by Media Plan showed towards what political option each paper was leaning, clear indicators cannot be drawn from this monitoring project as it was related just to the front page. Therefore, we did not deal with this at all, at least not directly.

The following is a short and clear presentation of quantitative and qualitative observations made by students of the Media Plan High College of Journalism based on issues published on November 1-30, 2003.

Oslobodjenje: headlines for the well informed

Twenty-nine issues of the paper Oslobodjenje came out in November (a double issue on Nov. 24), and the front pages contained a total of 298 textual headlines and 230 photographs. The headlines are positioned in such a way that two small headlines are featured above the Oslobodjenje logo. Next to them, on the right-hand side, is a logo marking the paper’s 60^th anniversary. Underneath the Oslobodjenje logo is the leading headline accompanied by a section of the article and a photograph, usually much smaller than the text. Underneath this is the second largest headline with a photograph much larger than the headline.

Each front page (with the exception of one – Nov. 17) consists of 10 units. Divided into the offered categories, this is how it looks: life – 74, domestic politics – 65, black chronicle – 39, announcement of a newspaper supplement – 31, economy – 21, culture, science and education – 20, sport – 16, world – 9, neighbors – 8, and advertisements – 6. Most leading headlines were related to domestic politics – 17, while other leading headlines were distributed among economy – 5, life – 4, culture, science and education – 2 and neighbors – 1.

The superscript headline, headline and sub-headline sometimes contain just the last names of different people without stating their positions. E.g. “Brankovic unlawfully dismissed Lojo and Kukic” (Nov. 1) or “Vrankic is preventing investigation into plunder in Mostar” (Nov. 6). A headline on Nov. 26 contains a quotation by the head of the Islamic Community, reisu-l-ulema Mustafa Ceric, “Bosniaks are suffering injustice,” but readers can find this out only if they read the sub-headline to the end. Also, on Nov. 23 we have a leading headline “Alija’s sycophants are destroying Tito myth.” By reading the much smaller and longer sub-headline, we conclude that these are the words of SDP President Zlatko Lagumdzija (who, by the way, was identified only as Lagumdzija, without his position). Although the headline and sub-headline put together give a more or less clear picture of what it is about, one still gets the impression that large headlines are primarily targeted at readers who are well informed about local social and political developments. Also, someone who glances at the front page, for example at the newsstand, may get many question marks appearing above their heads.

On that note, a question mark was used in a headline just once: “Bosmal falling out of race for highway?” (Nov. 27), and a question mark together with an exclamation mark was also used once, “New electricity rates shutting down Aluminij?!” (Nov. 10). In Bosnian-Herzegovinian circumstances, such headlines often border on sensationalism. Our opinion is that in the case of Bosmal, the headline is somewhat speculating, while in the case of Aluminij, the company management really did announce that they would start shutting down plants at the end of the year due to higher electricity rates.

The largest number of photographs featured on the front page were related to the category of life – 67, followed by domestic politics – 65, black chronicle – 26, economy – 21, culture, science and education – 20, sport – 15, neighbors and world – 8 each.

Individual heads up close do not dominate the front page, as something that characterizes many papers, and the various figures that are spoken about are shown in groups. Oslobodjenje evidently fosters the style of groups when shooting photographs. In the monitored period we noted a big diversity of figures appearing on the front page and it is not possible to single out any persons that particularly dominated the front pages.

Violations of ethical principles, at least on the front page, were not observed.

Titles on the front page

LIFE

74

DOMESTIC POLITICS

65

BLACK CHRONICLE

39

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

31

ECONOMY

20

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

21

SPORT

16

WORLD

9

NEIGHBORS

8

ADVERTISEMENTS

6

TOTAL

289

Photos on the front page

LIFE

67

DOMESTIC POLITICS

65

BLACK CHRONICLE

26

ECONOMY

21

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

20

SPORT

15

WORLD

8

NEIGHBORS

8

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

-

TOTAL

230

Dnevni avaz: many heads in photographs and many exclamation and question marks in headlines

In November, 29 issues of Dnevni Avaz came out (a double issue was published on the Bajram holiday) and the front pages featured a total of 269 textual headlines and 254 photographs.

There were most headlines related to the category of life – 62, followed by domestic politics – 60, black chronicle – 56, sport - 31, advertisements – 27, culture, science and education – 14, world – 10, neighbors – 5, economy, 3, and announcement of a newspaper supplement – 1.

Headlines on the front page are positioned in such a way that the leading headline stands out, placed right under the name of the paper, and the text there is more dominant than the photograph. There were most leading headlines related to the category of domestic politics – 21, and the rest were distributed among the categories of life – 4, world – 2, neighbors – 1, black chronicle – 1. In addition to the leading headline, there is also a headline dominated by a photograph and it is usually not related to domestic politics; it concerns other categories, mostly life, black chronicle or sport. Other headlines are of similar sizes and are usually accompanied by a small photograph showing a person’s head. With the leading headline, Avaz often uses the term “exclusive” to reinforce the importance of its leading article. In November the term exclusive was used with the leading headline eight times.

Five leading headlines had an exclamation mark after them, and two had a question mark. “Who was tapping 30 foreign diplomats?” (Nov. 8), “Premier calls for Nikolic dismissal!”, “Only 48 hours to big decision!!!” (Nov. 17), “Some are irritated by freedom in Sarajevo (!)” (Nov. 24/25)… Although thanks to superscript headlines, compared to Oslobodjenje, it is a bit clearer who is saying what, we can make an objection here as well that headlines alone appear somewhat confusing and unclear.

Five leading headlines emphasized an interview with someone.

Most photographs were published about domestic politics – 65, followed by life – 64, black chronicle – 59, sport – 32, culture, science and education – 13, world – 12, neighbors – 5, economy – 3, announcement of a newspaper supplement – 1. Heads dominate in photographs.

Among the photographed figures, the ones who appear most often are High Representative Paddy Ashdown, BiH Presidency member Sulejman Tihic, Miss BiH Irna Smaka and FBiH Prime Minister Ahmed Hadzipasic.

Overall, one may say that the front page of Dnevni Avaz has a clear concept and that each issue has a similar number of contents. Usually, the front page has nine defined segments, sometimes 10 or eight. The paper tries to stress the leading headline using the term exclusive and exclamation marks and the font is much larger. Each front page in November had some contents related to the categories of domestic politics and life, and only one day (Nov. 29) there was no content from the black chronicle.

Titles on the front page

LIFE

62

DOMESTIC POLITICS

60

BLACK CHRONICLE

56

SPORT

31

ADVERTISEMENTS

27

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

14

WORLD

10

NEIGHBORS

5

ECONOMY

3

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

1

TOTAL

269

Photos on the front page

LIFE

64

DOMESTIC POLITICS

65

BLACK CHRONICLE

59

SPORT

32

ADVERTISEMENTS

27

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

13

WORLD

12

NEIGHBORS

5

ECONOMY

3

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

1

TOTAL

281

Nezavisne novine: very informative with emphasis on tragedies and deviant phenomena

Announcements of articles on the front pages of “Nezavisne Novine” are mostly from the category of domestic politics (76). They all have superscript headlines and sub-headlines. Front pages often show local politicians and institutions, as well as international politicians and their organizations. The most frequently mentioned are Paddy Ashdown, Donald Hays, Clifford Bond, Carla del Ponte, and also OHR, FBiH Government, RS Government, BiH Parliament, SFOR, as well as the companies Aluminij and telecoms in both entities.

The field dealing with domestic politics is followed by issues in the field of economy (29). Sport is the third most frequent field and every Monday “Nezavisne” has a sports supplement, with a minimum of four sport items being featured on the front page and at least two photographs accompanying the headlines. This is followed by issues on life (strikes, pensioners, protests, healthcare…): headlines on the front page of “Nezavisne” announced articles on, for example, a student protest in Banja Luka, a miners strike in a black coal mine in Miljevina, blind war military invalids getting roofs over their heads…

Issues from the world had only seven headlines in November. Headlines that could be seen on the front page of this newspaper are, for instance, “Dozens of dead in Riyadh”, “14 Italian soldiers and eight Iraqis killed”, “26 people killed in two Al Qaida attacks (Istanbul)”. These headlines speak about accidents in the world and terrorist attacks, which is additional evidence, proven in media in most countries of the world, that media in international constellations focus most of their attention on violence and tragedies.

The “black chronicle” is next by frequency of issues, which also confirms media focus on criminal and violent happenings, this time from the local community. It is interesting that the section “culture”, even treatment of events in the neighborhood, for which Nezavisne Novine is known, has a very low level of published headlines. The same situation is with science and education.

“Nezavisne Novine” gives considerable space on the front page to advertisements, but one might say in a rather unobtrusive way. Their number in November is as high as 60 (on average two a day), but they don’t “stick out like a sore thumb” and they do not interfere with headlines speaking about the day’s events or announcing them inside the paper. From the viewpoint of advertisers, this may not be satisfying, but in terms of purely informative reporting, it is very commendable.

Titles on the front page

DOMESTIC POLITICS

76

ADVERTISEMENTS

60

ECONOMY

29

SPORT

24

LIFE

23

BLACK CHRONICLE

16

WORLD

7

NEIGHBORS

2

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

2

TOTAL

239

Photos on the front page

DOMESTIC POLITICS

60

LIFE

18

ECONOMY

16

SPORT

15

BLACK CHRONICLE

11

NEIGHBORS

3

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

2

TOTAL

143

Glas Srpske: good garnishing with photographs, headlines sometimes undefined

Most space in Glas Srpske is also given to domestic politics. These are mostly issues related to happenings in the Republika Srpska, a little less in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, a significant difference in relation to Nezavisne Novine, which treats both entities more or less equally.

World is the next most common issue in “Glas Srpske”. A large number of headlines related to the world category are actually human interest pieces, while a smaller number cover political, economic and cultural happenings in the world. A certain number of news items dealt with accidents and terrorist attacks in the world. The above human interest pieces are of the following type: “Cut the finger”, “Save the marriage”, “Drunken policeman driving”, “Letter for Guinness”, etc. These news items are printed on the front page in their entirety because they are usually short.

Stories about everyday life are the next most common area in “Glas Srpske”. These are mostly social issues, also news on protests and strikes mostly from the Republika Srpska.

Next are neighbors, economy and black chronicle. Culture is present the least on the front page of this daily.

It is noteworthy for this analysis to mention how individual news items are presented on the front page of “Glas Srpske”. Some news items, i.e. their announcements, are presented in such a way that the reader very often does not know what kind of news / subject they belong to. Usually headlines are used without superscript headlines and often we do not have even the basic journalistic elements – who says, where, why… The reader can get an answer only on the given page inside the paper. It happened that a couple of such headlines were placed one under the other, which is even more confusing. Examples of such headlines are: Stone in shoe (just a headline with no superscript headline or sub-headline for narrower designation), Oil shut down faucets, Debts like a noose, etc.

“Glas Srpske” regularly publishes supplements dedicated to different areas. The paper also has a large number of advertisements on the front page – sometimes up to five. Thanks to skillful layout, these advertisements are separated from news items on the front page, which is good because they do not disturb the visual daily-political communication with readers. On the front page the paper also offers a currency rates list, a weather report and what is called “Word of the Day” featuring an interesting sentence or statement by a public figure. It was very rare, at least in the monitored period, that these contents were positioned in such a way that they were more noticeable than the leading (informative) issues.

As for photographs on the front page of “Glas Srpske” that accompany entire reports on the front page or announce inside contents, their number of quite small. It is interesting that very often in this daily paper, photographs do not accompany leading headlines or entire reports. The number of cases when a photograph accompanies a headline or article is very low. Photographs on the front page are usually non-committal, about life or entertainment and human interest. For instance, photographs often show students “caught” during their everyday trip to school, workers working in the garden or a construction site, couples in love, thoughtful students with books in their hands.

One of the more interesting photographs on the front page of “Glas Srpski” is certainly a photograph showing a billboard in Banja Luka on which we can clearly see a love message that a young man sent to his girlfriend. The picture provoked a lot of attention and comments and on November 3 certainly made “Glas Srpski” more attractive.

Photographs dealing with everyday life and unrelated to individual issues presented in the paper are featured under the common superscript headline THROUGH THE LENS. These photographs are very often positioned in the middle of the front page and serve to enliven the page and make it more interesting.

Titles on the front page

ADVERTISEMENTS

120

DOMESTIC POLITICS

57

WORLD

28

LIFE

24

NEIGHBORS

13

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

13

WORLD

13

BLACK CHRONICLE

8

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

4

SPORT

-

TOTAL

280

Photos on the front page 

LIFE

21

BLACK CHRONICLE

7

DOMESTIC POLITICS

2

WORLD

1

ECONOMY

-

NEIGHBORS

-

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

-

SPORT

-

TOTAL

31

Dnevni list: dominant are federation government, elections in croatia and advertisements for Jerko Ivankovic’s party

In the monitored period, from November 1 to 30, 2003, “Dnevni List” dedicated most space on the front page to domestic politics – 37.72 percent. Of the total number of photographs on the front page, 44.12 percent were related to issues on domestic politics. The paper intensively covered the work of the Federal Government and continuously reported on it on the front page.

What is important to say is that Dnevni List gives priority in its reports to statements made by certain politicians. This way, through interviews or statements by government representatives, it affirms different stands, views of current issues, or criticism related to the work of the Government. One may say that, looking through this segment, we can determine the paper’s position in overall developments in domestic politics and affirmation of certain circles of power.

Thus, for example, on the front page on November 10, Dnevni List brings the following leading headline: “BIH FEDERATION PRESIDENT NIKO LOZANCIC – DISMISSALS POSSIBLE IN BIH FEDERATION GOVERNMENT”. Top news on the front page of November 13 is: “VRANKIC: REJECTION OF MY SUGGESTIONS IS REFLECTION OF SITUATION IN FBIH GOVERNMENT”. On the front page on November 19, “Dnevni List” brings the main news: “VRANKIC: I WAS ATTACKED FROM �CRISIS MANAGEMENT CENTER’”. These headlines lead to the conclusion that there are political disagreement and instability in the work of the government.

Of the total number of headlines on the front page, as many as 39 or 17.11 percent are interviews or statements by government representatives, as a result of which one may say that Dnevni List has a distinctive reporting style. This way Dnevni List tried to provide a (realistic) picture of the situation that primarily the FBiH Government is in, and then also the overall political situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Dnevni List also specially and continuously reported on the work of the High Representative. Among the top issues on the front page, the paper often featured statements, messages or criticism coming from the High Representative related to the work of the Government. For example, on November 2 top news on the front page is Paddy Ashdown’s message to politicians of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. “STOP PARALLELISM”. On the front page on November 8, Dnevni List brings top news: “PADDY ASHDOWN: DELEGATES ARE CHANGING LAW FOR PERSONAL INTEREST”, etc.

In the monitored period, Dnevni List also gave a lot of attention to scandals in Bosnia-Herzegovina, such as situations of conflict regarding the issues of Eronet, Aluminij, HT Mostar (problems related to the dismissal of Director Prlic), Elektroprivreda. A place on the front page was also reserved for an issue on alleged coup d’etat which had been prepared, according to allegations that were denied in the meantime, by SDP President Zlatko Lagumdzija.

Dnevni List also reported on the front page on some other situations of conflict such as a scandal involving Siroki Brijeg Municipality Head Miljenko Jelic who suspended the construction of Hotel PARK, and on November 20 it brought news on scams in Western Herzegovina Canton: “MUNICIPALITIES CHEATED AND ROBBED COMPANIES OF MILLIONS OF MARKS”.

Dnevni List also treated a rift within the SDA party and possible dismissal of Prime Minister Hadzipasic. This issue was given space on the front page four times.

After domestic politics, the subject that was present the most on the front page of Dnevni List were neighbors – 9.65 percent, while 16.67 percent of the total number of photographs accompanied headlines in this category. The Republic of Croatia is the subject that Dnevni List reported on the most. Of the total number of headlines falling under “neighbors”, 82.61 percent actually dealt with issues whose different aspects were related to Croatia. A subject that was particularly present and that Dnevni List continuously reported on were elections in Croatia. Of the total number of headlines falling under “neighbors”, 65.22 percent have to do with elections in Croatia. Dnevni List carefully covered the campaign for the 11^th election unit and particular attention was given to HDZ BiH and relations between this party and HDZ Croatia.

Black chronicle is the third most present category on the front page of Dnevni List. Of the total number of headlines, 7.46 are related to this category, and of the total number of photographs, 9.80 percent fall under this category.

Economy is in fourth place and Dnevni List reported on this issue on its front page only 5.26 percent, and of the total number of photographs, 8.82 percent were about economic issues. Most attention in this category was given to Aluminij, Eronet, HT Mostar, Elektroprivreda and the building of the Vc highway corridor through Bosnia-Herzegovina.

There were only 3.95 percent issues related to life on the front page of Dnevni List, and of the total number of photographs, 3.92 percent accompanied headlines in this area. Relatively balanced, but minor, were reports on culture, science and education – a total of 1.75 percent and 3.92 percent of the total number of photographs.

Sport was given only three headlines, or 1.32 percent, on the front page of Dnevni List in the monitored period, of which two headlines are top news on the front pages of November 16 and 20 and are accompanied by photographs. All three headlines reported on the Croatian national football team for the EURO 2004 qualifications. Other sports subjects were not present on the front page.

In the monitored period, issues from the world were the least present on the front page of Dnevni List. A feasibility study adopted by the European Commission related to further steps that Bosnia-Herzegovina must take towards integration into the EU is the only issue in this category for which Dnevni List reserved space on the front page.

There were three announcements of supplements (1.32 percent). Analysis shows that Dnevni List resorts to this practice when if features a current issue from different categories in these supplements.

Of the total number of items presented on the front page of Dnevni List, 31.14 percent were reserved for advertising. There were a total of 71 advertisements. It is of note that of the total number of advertisements, 11 were advertisements for the Independent List of Jerko Ivankovic Lijanovic and were featured on the front page during the campaign for the 11^th election unit of the Republic of Croatia, and were also accompanied by photographs.

Titles on the front page

DOMESTIC POLITICS

86

ADVERTISEMENTS

71

NEIGHBORS

22

BLACK CHRONICLE

17

ECONOMY

12

LIFE

9

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

4

SPORT

3

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

3

WORLD

1

TOTAL

228

Photos on the front page 

DOMESTIC POLITICS

45

NEIGHBORS

17

ADVERTISEMENTS

11

BLACK CHRONICLE

10

ECONOMY

9

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

4

LIFE

4

SPORT

2

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

-

WORLD

-

TOTAL

102

Jutarnje novine: great diversity with many small photographs

The twenty-four issues of “Jutarnje Novine” that were published in November, with six double issues (five on weekends and one on the occasion of the Bajram holiday and state holiday), bring announcements for 239 articles. Issues in all categories are dealt with almost equally. Mild dominance of domestic politics (42 articles) is “jeopardized” by announcements of articles on the economy (25 articles), issues related to life (23 articles); black chronicle is present in 22 places, sport in 18, while neighbors with 17 announcements of articles and world with 16 are equally present and, subjectively, to a sufficient degree. Issues on culture, science, education and healthcare were given attention 10 times.

The leading headline is almost always positioned in the very center of the page, right underneath the paper’s logotype, and it attracts attention by it size and often a photograph. Generally, the first page of the paper abounds in headlines and announcements of articles, but apart from the dominant leading headline, perhaps another one or possibly two headlines are emphasized, while all others are much smaller, sometimes even unnoticeable. This kind of disproportion, in terms of the size of font used and emphasizing the article by putting a frame around it and printing a photograph, enables readers to orient themselves more easily while reading and understanding the importance of the offered issues.

Thirty-nine advertisements were printed, which are usually small and unnoticeable. Almost in every issue “Jutarnje Novine” announces a campaign or project that it is implementing – Work BiH: “Together towards new jobs”, and on its pages announces and promotes projects, enables candidates to apply for jobs, facilitates contact with investors and writes about employment activities. This kind of text is on the verge of being an advertisement and some sort of a supplement (always printed on the same pages, from page 11 to page 14). On this subject the paper interviewed prominent politicians, experts…

Another kind of supplement that “Jutarnje Novine” regularly puts out is the “TV Review”.

Numerous photographs also give the front pages of “Jutarnje Novine” wide variety. This month, 175 of them were printed and they may often puzzle readers because they are printed in a small format and may easily be confused with advertisements. A record 45 photographs accompany announcements for supplements. Thirty photographs each cover issues related to domestic politics and life, 17 illustrate articles from the neighborhood, 13 have to do with the sports section, 12 with the black chronicle, 11 with the world and economic issues, and least of all – 6, with the area of culture, science, education and healthcare. Faces of people are present on 81 photographs, group images are on 29 photographs, while images of different buildings were printed eight times. The “most favorite” figure in “Jutarnje” is Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina Sulejman Tihic, shown four times; Adnan Terzic and Ahmet Hadzipasic, the state and federal prime ministers respectively, appeared three times each; and a photograph of High Representative Paddy Ashdown was printed on two occasions.

A couple of times Jutarnje found itself on the verge of violating ethical principles. On November 10 a photograph was printed that showed a young man who had jumped from the 17^th floor. Not even “Jutarnje Novine” remained immune against a photograph that media in Bosnia-Herzegovina exploited to the maximum, which shows a young man who blew himself up with a grenade (issue of November 15 and 16). The lifeless body with the shattered head is lying in an unnatural position on railway tracks. In the issue of November 18 the paper printed photographs of a man and woman who had been beaten up and robbed in Tuzla. However, the first two photographs that show suicides were taken from a distance and due to that, and also due to poor printing, they do not offer much information about the tragically deceased. They depict a situation more than a person and therefore cannot be considered violations of journalistic and ethical codes.

The leading headline on November 19, “BiH may become EU member by 2009” (said Adnan Terzic in an interview with “Jutarnje”) is a kind of misinformation. It was printed as top news, a sensation, but it awakens false hope, based on the statement of just one political official whose everyday routine is to say things like this, while reality on the other hand is totally different. This is a common mistake made by journalists who chase after exclusivity and sensationalism by putting in the foreground something that, true, is of great importance, but comes from an irrelevant source.

Weirdly worded headlines also attract attention. For instance, “Sasa Peric killed, tow service driver dies”, printed in the issue of November 20. Announcements of two scientific research projects were also printed – Scientists’ research: “Women lose their minds shopping” and Moscow analysis: “Every fifth couple is Orthodox-Muslim”. Confusion is caused by the fact that we do not have any additional information on the front page and these announcements seem ambiguous and unclear.

In the case of “Jutarnje Novine” a reaction to a published article was also noted on the front page. In the issue of November 12 the front page carries an announcement: “Bobar is bying Sloboda and Tusanj” and already next day we have a reaction from Bobar company – “The article in �Jutarnje Novine’ provoked an �earthquake’ in Tuzla: Bobar is looking for business premises, not football players.” This is the only case that the reply of a mentioned person or company was printed on the front page. To explain, Gavrilo Bobar is one of the wealthiest people in Bosnia-Herzegovina and “Sloboda” is a premiere league football team from Tuzla.

Titles on the front page

DOMESTIC POLITICS

42

ADVERTISEMENTS

39

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

27

ECONOMY

25

LIFE

23

BLACK CHRONICLE

22

SPORT

18

NEIGHBORS

17

WORLD

16

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

10

TOTAL

239

Photos on the front page 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

45

DOMESTIC POLITICS

30

LIFE

30

NEIGHBORS

17

SPORT

13

BLACK CHRONICLE

12

WORLD

11

ECONOMY

11

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

6

TOTAL

175

San: turning towards local issues, wandering in headlines

Twenty-three issues came out in November, of which five are regular double issues published on weekends and one is a triple issue on Bajram and a public holiday. A total of 215, conditionally speaking, contents were featured on the front page, presented in terms of graphics and style as headline blocs and announcements of articles. A part of these grapho-stylistic forms are advertisements, 93 of which were printed, or a bit more than four on average. As a rule, they were featured in the bottom part of the page so as not to draw away readers’ attention.

With an inevitable superscript headline and headline, some announcements also contain a sub-headline and an almost inevitable announcement of the page on which the article is printed. The first several paragraphs of articles were also printed in several places. Most articles, in terms of the subject they talk about, can be placed in the category of domestic politics (34 articles), life comes in second (22 articles), followed by issues related to culture, science, education and healthcare (a total of 17 articles), while sport is present in 16 articles. A “TV Supplement” was announced in only one issue (November 12). The fact that only three articles are dedicated to issues from the neighborhood (Carla del Ponte, Belgrade, “Greater Serbia”), and that world news was featured in only four cases (Al-Qaida twice, European Commission, Istanbul), allows for a somewhat more liberal conclusion that “SAN” primarily gives attention to domestic issues. At times it is even on the verge of becoming a chronicle of cities, forgotten and left behind. The section “On the Spot” reports from Jajce (November 1 and 2, “Jajce is a city of elders”), takes us for a day to Lukavica (November 8 and 9, “There is work only in the market”), writes about Strgacina (November 10, “Neither water, nor electricity”). The section “On the Spot” often covers events related to what is called the black chronicle (traffic accidents, murders), and even something that is very hard to place in any of the given categories (November 14, article titled “Sana resident who killed bear is facing prison”) or an article that has all characteristics of an advertisement (November 17, Vrapcici near Mostar: “Largest shopping center in BiH”). The section “Paying a visit” reports that “Young people are fleeing Gorazde” (November 11).

The front page of November 5 causes general confusion because, in a situation when none of the headlines are graphically emphasized, the reader faces the dilemma – which one is the leading headline. It seems as if all of the presented issues are of equal importance.

That sensationalism can destroy even the best concept and jeopardize a newspaper’s reputation is proven by the front page of November 28. It suffices to say that the leading article falls in the black chronicle category – Tragedy near Bihac: “Five dead include pregnant woman” and to list the other headlines – “Business is blooming from Brijesce to Rajlovac”, “Monthly around 100 KM,” “There may be cancerigenic honey,” “Deen and Bernarda had a fight”, “CRA waiting for authorities”. Such selection of issues and such worded headlines, for a newspaper that strives to be a serious daily, does not seem authoritative.

In November “SAN” placed 110 photographs on its front pages. Most photographs were used to illustrate issues related to domestic politics – 30, while 21 photographs covered issues related to life, 17 photographs were printed to accompany announcements of sports issues, and 12 times each to accompany issues related to science, culture, education and healthcare. Black chronicle was present on 10 photographs, world on five, while two photographs were used for issues from the neighborhood.

Most photographs, or 63 of them, show human images (faces, semi up close, whole figure), eight photographs show scenes of traffic accidents or murders, five show landscapes of cities, and four show buildings. Naturally, ethical dilemmas arise when pictures of accidents or murders are printed because some photographs show explicit scenes of violence and human suffering (front page of November 3 showing a large picture of a dead man, or the issue of November 5 where a photograph shows a dead man being pulled out of a smashed car). Perhaps an example of the worst kind is the one on the front page of the November 15-16 issue where two photographs show the body of a young man on railway tracks with the headline – “He put a grenade in his mouth and pulled the safety catch”.

Titles on the front page 

ADVERTISEMENTS

93

DOMESTIC POLITICS

34

LIFE

22

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

17

SPORT

16

ECONOMY

13

BLACK CHRONICLE

12

WORLD

4

NEIGHBORS

3

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

1

                     TOTAL

      215

Photos on the front page 

DOMESTIC POLITICS

30

LIFE

21

SPORT

17

ECONOMY

12

CULTURE, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

12

BLACK CHRONICLE

10

WORLD

5

NEIGHBORS

2

ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT

1

TOTAL

110

Mubarek Asani, Tetovo (Macedonia), Marija Nenezic, Budva (Serbia and Montenegro), Davor Marko, Subotica (Serbia and Montenegro) and Namir Ibrahimovic, Olovo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) are students of Media Plan High College of Journalism from Sarajevo. Radenko Udovičić is coordinator on the subject of press and media analyst. © Media Online 2004. All rights reserved.