Reklaami- ja ajakirjandusliku diskursuse segunemine kommertstelevisioonis ja ajakirjades

The bachelor theses of “Conflation of Journalistic and Advertising Discourses in Magazines and Commercial Television” concentrates on problems of hidden advertisement. The main terms on which the research focuses are the following: conflation of journalistic and advertising discourses, hidden advertisment, intertextuality, diminution of the border, conflated cases, not satisfied parties, legitimation of hidden advertisment, inadequate regulation system. The analysis is based on six cases of hidden advertisement, representing different ways of how advertisements are depicted as part of the journalistic discourse. All these cases (three from commercial television channels and three from magazines) are not in accordance with the normative regulation acts of advertising. Thereby six expert interviews were conducted with different parties held responsible for unlawful representation of advertisements in media. The purpose of these interviews was to explain the background of these cases and answer the following research questions: how do the parties of the regulation system regard the problem of mixing advertising and journalistic material so that it doesn’t distinguish each other?, where are the cases hereby analyzed placed judicially inside the regulation system?, is each party satisfied with the conditions of conflation between advertising and journalistic discourses?, is it, according to the existing normatives, possible to successfully supervise hidden advertisements? As consumers also form an important party of the problem herby analyzed, additional 25 short interviews were conducted among them to find out how they see the six cases, whether the separation of advertising and journalistic material is considered to be relevant and whether they trust the channels that conflate them. The research shows that hidden advertisement is a considered to be a problematic field in Estonian advertising regulation. Firstly, as resulted from the interviews, representatives of all interviewed parties regard it important to keep journalistic and advertising materials separated. Still, in practice the separation does not work due to the financial pressure of advertisers and the needs of commercial channels to meet their financial needs and this weighs over the ethical side of such action. Secondly, the conflated cases analyzed have all very different backgrounds and are, therefore, subject to different normatives from being an ethical question to breaking the law. All options can be considered but are disputable as the definition of hidden advertisement is very imprecise and arguments for justifying its legality are easy to find and, therefore, advertisers are almost free in their experimentations. Previous discussion leads to the situation which at first glance is beneficial to all influenced parties. Still, as resulted from the research the parties are not satisfied in with their roles in the system. Journalists and editors sense ethical conflicts although they are used to the inevitability of serving primarily the needs of advertisers. Producers take advantage of the situation, although in the creative point of view they dislike mixing the markets. Supervising organizations feel the normatives not being precise enough for successfully monitor the process in order to keep the situation under control, which hereby gives an answer to the last research question.http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b1737696~S1*es