MASS MEDIA RTRS AND RTVBN SHAPING REALITY OR INFORMING THE PUBLIC

Abstract

According to several successive surveys by the agency for measuring the viewership of TV stations, RTVBN and RTRS represent the most watched and influential media outlets in the Republic of Srpska.
The aim of the research carried out in this work is to show, through a comparative analysis (especially the news functions of the media), how the two most watched television stations in the Republic of Srpska market information and news to the public. Special attention is paid to the creation of the agenda and the concept of media framing, that is, the selection of the part of the information that will be considered more prominent.
Based on the research (following main news programs of both televisions for three consecutive days), the conclusion was drawn that in the news media of RTRS and RTVBN televisions, the influence of agenda setting and media framing was significantly expressed, and that when creating the agenda of both televisions, both reporting bias (visibility bias) and filtering bias (selective bias or selection bias) are easily visible. The research also showed that both televisions have their own ways of forming the agenda, and that for this reason there is very little overlap in the agenda, especially when it comes to highlighting the importance of certain news.