THE NEW MULTICRITERIA-BASED MODEL FOR QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF WRITTEN MEDIA MESSAGES - PERSPECTIVES FOR APPLICATION

Media messages are any form of communication delivered to the audience, broadcasted in written, oral or visual form. They may include TV shows, web pages, advertisements, news stories, blogs or social media posts, inter alia. At present, facts are no longer the paradigm of journalism. They are often replaced by short messages constructed on the basis of biased or emotional content. In addition, commercial value of news and digitization of resources have also changed the formation of texts and images. They are built using entries posted on Facebook or Twitter (often by fake accounts), instead of face-to-face interviews, participant observation, or citing primary sources and opinions. On the other hand, there are numerous discussions on the quality of data and information, also in the context of journalism. Although there is no agreement whatsoever as to the factors contributing to high-quality communication, the author attempts to demonstrate a new model for quality assessment of written media messages. It comprises four main groups of quality factors, namely: 1) information, 2) linguistic, 3) publishing, and 4) useability. Each group consists of specific criteria, which are analyzed with respect to different media content. Its potential of application for quality assessment of press and social media will be discussed.