Infotainment in the Central Informative TV Programs of National Broadcasters

Abstract

The main aim of this research is to determine the presence of infotainment elements as well as differences in the amount of their participation in the top news programs of the Public Service in Serbia: Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and two commercial televisions, Pink, being the most watched private television, and Television B92. "Infotainment " is an English compound word which denotes a phenomenon related to the television. This media phenomenon is not a new one, but it has experienced its massive breakthrough into the media content in the market competition. It was created with the intention of making the news program more popular in order to entice advertisers who pay for advertising time and on whom commercial televisions depend. The methods which were used in the research are qualitative (a discourse analysis) and quantitative (a content analysis). The analysis of the data showed that there is a difference in    news program of RTS, mostly in relation to TV Pink in terms of infotainment, and to some extent in relation to TV B92. In addition to the importance of the research that should show the state of the newscast on the Serbian national television, this paper also provides a theoretical contribution to the understanding of the infotainment problem