Political communication and the creation of public

Abstract

Political communication is an essential element of modern democracy, which in the times of transformed public and digitized media structures, leads to more sophisticated public management processes. New forms of narration reveal the dominant contents: the text is changed by "aestheticzed" image, the critical depth - by narcissistic surface, and strong arguments and journalistic researches withdraw before marketing claims, spinning and tabloidization. By analyzing the daily press in Serbia, the authors determine how the press sprinkle itself with gold dust of PR services and agencies, mediating the reality in which powerful elite and rich advertisers live, but not ordinary citizens as well, impoverished, and concerned for the future. Instead of "Argus eye" of the public, press increasingly becomes a bulletin board of political parties and undercover tycoons, ground for ideological opponents slandering and discrediting. Reference political framework is created far behind the public scenes, so it can be concluded that Serbian society is still far from the participatory model of democracy, where citizens comprehensively participate in process of freeform thinking and will changing the community for the common good.