Secondary abstract: |
In today's modern society, the media are a primary source of information for many people about events happening both globally and locally. In the pursuit of being informed, we consume media by reading tabloids, watching television, or browsing the internet, which has become a popular tool for finding news. The public trusts the media to provide information that is factual, credible, and reliable, but also high-quality and transparent. As a result, the media generally wield significant influence and power, which, in turn, demands them to act responsibly and carefully when presenting and interpreting information across all social domains. Prison environment is a topic that is frequently reported on by the media. The manner of reporting is particularly important in this case, seeing that only a relatively small portion of the general public ever experiences prisons in person, meaning they cannot form opinions and perceptions based on personal experience. In the master's thesis, we focused on the reporting on Slovenian prisons by online news portals. In the first part, we conducted a systematic review of domestic and foreign literature on media reporting on prisons using descriptive and deductive methods. In the second part of the thesis, we focused on the presentation of the empirical study, in which we reviewed and analyzed articles published in the last five years on three online portals: 24ur.com, rtvslo.si, and zurnal24.si. The general tone of the analyzed articles on the online portals was noticeably more negative on zurnal24.si, with 24ur.com having the most positive articles, and rtvslo.si featuring the largest proportion of neutral news. All portals reported more frequently in an emotional manner when analyzing the emotional or informative tone. The content of the articles most often focused on the systemic problems of Slovenian prisons, frequently reporting on staff shortages and overcrowding, as well as criminal offences committed by individuals, predominantly crimes against life and limb and crimes against public order and peace. 24ur.com and zurnal24.si reported on criminal offences more frequently than rtvslo.si. |