The changing role of the professional communicators in the information society

Abstract

This research is based on the concept of agent formulated by the authors Radojković and Stojković (2009) in the information-communication system theory. According to this theoretical framework, agents are institutions, organizations and societal groups that have the greatest communication power. They control and produce majority of the human symbolic environment. The most important occupational groups are journalists and public relations practitioners, as a separate subgroup of the advertising professionals. They have been employed by institutions during industrial and postindustrial era and have occupied an exclusive position in the information-communication system. However, with the development of new communication practices exercised by citizens through global, computer network, previously established relationships are significantly reshaped. The new civilization stage is taking its place, which is most commonly called the information society. It supports mass self-communication, allowing many to access information directly, process it, comment on it, and exchange it on a massive scale. In such a communication system, some functions of institutionalized communication centers can be performed by individual citizens and civil society organizations. Therefore, the main objective of this dissertation is to examine the multi-layered relationships that are established between the two types of professional communicators (journalists and PR practitioners) and users who operate outside professional routines and practices. According to the subject and purpose of this research the comparative method was applied. On the one level of comparison, the role of professional communicators from industrial, through the post-industrial to information society were considered. On the second level, the communication practices of professional versus amateur communicators, when they communicate in the form of journalism/public relations, were compared.

Istraživanje polazi od pojma „agensa― iz okvira teorije informaciono-komunikacionih sistema kako su ga postavili autori Radojković i Stojković (2009). Prema ovom okviru, agensi su institucije, organizacije i društvene grupe koje imaju najveću komunikacionu moć. Oni kontrolišu i produkuju većinu čovekovog simboličkog okruženja. Najvažnije profesionalne grupe čine novinari i stručnjaci za odnose sa javnošću, kao posebna podvrsta profesionalaca koji se bave oglašavanjem. Oni su kao poslenici institucija dugo vremena zauzimali ekskluzivnu poziciju u informaciono-komunikacionom sistemu. Međutim, sa razvojem novih oblika komunikacione prakse, koju ostvaruju građani putem globalne, kompjuterske mreže, ranije uspostavljeni odnosi se bitno preispituju i preuređuju. Nastaje novi stupanj u razvoju civilizacije koji se često naziva informacionim društvom. Njemu svojstvena masovna samo-komunikacija podrazumeva da mnogi imaju direktan pristup informacijama, kao i mogućnost da ih sami prerade, komentarišu i upute u masovnu razmenu. U novonastalom komunikacionom sistemu neke funkcije institucionalizovanih komunikacionih centara mogu vršiti i pojedinačni građani i organizacije civilnog društva. Osnovni cilj ovog rada je da preispita višeslojne odnose koji se uspostavljaju između dve vrste profesionalnih komunikatora i korisnika koji deluju izvan profesionalnih rutina i praksi. S obzirom na predmet i cilj rada, u istraživanju je primenjena komparativna metoda. Jedan pravac poređenja razmatra promene uloge profesionalnih komunikatora od industrijskog, preko postindustrijskog do informacionog društva. Na drugom nivou se porede komunikacione prakse profesionalnih naspram amaterskih komunikatora u slučajevima kada se njihovi komunikacioni akti sprovode u funkciji novinarstva/odnosa sa javnošću.