Early
theories were based on the assumptions that mass media have enormous
and direct influence upon society. But later researches provided
evidence against any direct cause and effect relationship between the
mass communication and society;rather they underline the importance of
individual differences and personal influences on transmission,
acceptance and retention of the message.
MEANING OF THEORIES & ANALYSIS
Fredrick
S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm presented:The
Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility, and Soviet Communist
Concepts of what the Press should be and do.
They
presented the four major theories behind the functioning of the world's
presses: (1) the Authoritarian theory, which developed in the late
Renaissance and was based on the idea that truth is the product of a few
wise men; (2) the Libertarian theory, which arose from the works of men
like Milton, Locke, Mill,and Jefferson and avowed that the search for
truth is one of man's natural rights;(3) the Social Responsibility
theory of the modern day: equal radio and television time for political
candidates, the obligations of the newspaper in a one-paper town,etc.;
(4) the Soviet Communist theory, an expanded and more positive version
of the old Authoritarian theory.
Fredrick
S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm’s four Theories of
the Press probably constitute the most well known attempt to clarify the
link between mass media and the political society in modern world.
Since
the theory was presented in 1963, it has been widely accepted and
utilized by media scholars. Nevertheless, a critical evaluation shows
that Siebert's theories are outdated and too simplistic to be useful in
today's media research.
Mass
media do not operate in a vacuum. This assertion is generally agreed
upon,and has led researchers to study the relationship between mass
media and the government.The first well-known attempt to clarify the
link between mass media and the political society was introduced by
Frederick S. Siebert in 1963, and presented in Four Theories of the
Press by Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm. The purpose of the work was to
establish and explain four normative theories that ought to illustrate
the ‘press position’ in relation to its political environment. By
"press" Siebert,means all the media of mass communication, including
television, radio, and newspaper.Siebert's four theories (the
authoritarian, the libertarian, the Soviet, and the social
responsibility) are still acknowledged by many mass media researchers as
the most proper categories to describe how different media systems
operate in the world. Almost every article and book dealing with
philosophical bases for journalism has alluded to this book ‘ Four
Theories of the Press’, commented on it,or quoted from it. It has
definitely made an impact. There is, therefore, a need to evaluate the
four theories analytically in order to find out if Siebert's approach
still is the most functional. A critical evaluation shows that Siebert's
theories, which seek to explain the relationship between mass media and
the government, are outdated and too simplistic to be useful in today's
media research.
Peterson, Wilbur, Schramm & Siebert’s four theories of press
(a) The Authoritarian Theory
According
to Siebert, the authoritarian state system requires direct governmental
control of the mass media. This system is especially easy to recognize
in pre-democratic societies, where the government consists of a very
limited and small ruling-class. The media in an authoritarian system are
not allowed to print or broadcast anything, which could undermine the
established authority, and any offense to the existing political values
is avoided. The authoritarian government may go to the step of punishing
anyone who questions the state's ideology.
The
fundamental assumption of the authoritarian system is that the
government is infallible. Media professionals are therefore not allowed
to have any independence within the media organization. Also foreign
media are subordinate to the established authority, in that all imported
media products are controlled by the state.
The relationship between the state and the media in an authoritarian system can be illustrated as such:
The
Authoritarian theory of the press can be traced to the very beginning
of printing. At that time, truth was thought to reside in those who
held power-that is,the governing agency. Thus there was strict control
of the press through the licensing of printers by the throne. Censorship
was practiced if the ruler thought that information should be withheld
from the masses. Therefore, although the government did not necessarily
own the press, it was looked on as being an advocate of the state. Today
many nations will not admit that their countries are governed according
to authoritarian principles, they publicly espouse libertarian
concepts, but behind the scenes authoritarian practices are carried out.
This
term was first used by Siebert refers to an arrangement in which the
press is subordinated to state power and the interests of a ruling
class. The theory justifies advance censorship and punishment for
deviation from externally set guidelines.Unacceptable attack on
authority, deviation from official policy, or offences against moral
codes should be criminal offences. Under certain circumstances,media are
subjected to authoritarian tendencies in democratic regimes as
well,especially in times of war and during internal and external
emergencies. Other media like film, video, etc are subjected to
censorship. Even the press, which is free, lost its independence and
freedom during the emergency (1975-77). The Authorities can and do use
the provisions of official secrets act to deny free access to
information, thereby hampering the freedom of press.
(b) The Libertarian Theory
Fredrick
S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm’s go on to explain
the libertarian theory, which is also called the free press theory. In
contrast to the authoritarian theory, the libertarian view rests on the
idea that the individual should be free to publish whatever he or she
likes. Its history traces back to the 17th century thinker John Milton,
who asserted that human beings inevitably choose the best ideas and
values. In the libertarian system, attacks on the government's policies
are fully accepted and even encouraged. Moreover, there should be
norestrictions on import or export of media messages across the national
frontiers.Moreover, journalists and media professionals ought to have
full autonomy withinthe media organization.It is hard to find intact
examples of libertarian media systems in today's world. TheU.S. will in
many aspects come close, but this country's media system has have
tendencies of authoritarianism as well.
As this illustration shows, there is no explicit connection between the government and the media in the libertarian theory:
Today
‘the open marketplace of ideas’ and the ‘self-righting process’ define
the boundaries of the libertarian theory of the press. In the
seventeenth century John Milton defended the concepts of reason and the
moral integrity of man in telling right from wrong, good from bad, and
truth from falsehood in a powerful argument for intellectual freedom.
Other exponents of this philosophy were John Stuart,Thomas Jefferson and
other who believed in freedom of expression, rationalism, and natural
rights. They saw as the press’s function to inform, to sell, to
entertain, to uphold the truth, and to keep check on the government.
Press ownership in countries espousing the libertarian philosophy is
likely to be private and should be free from defamation, obscenity,
impropriety and wartime sedition.Countries practicing the libertarian
philosophy today are the United States, Great Britain, and other western
European nations. Other theories related to libertarian theory are the
social responsibility theory and the objective theory of the press.
Libertarian
theory is based on the fundamental right of an individual to freedom of
expression, which is regarded as the main legitimating principle for
print media in liberal democracies. In its simple form, it prescribes
that an individual should be free to publish what he or she likes, it is
thus extension of other rights to hold opinions freely, to express
them, to assemble and organize with others. The free press theory needs
no elaboration as is evident from the first amendment to the American
Constitution, which states that ‘congress shall make no law…abridging
the freedom of speech or of the press, it is thus simply an absolute
right of the citizen’.
But
the application of press freedom has hardly been straightforward.
Milton, Stuart Mill and many others argued that if freedom is abused to
the extent of threatening good morals and the authority of the state, it
must be restrained. According to de Sola Pool (1973), ‘no nation will
definitely tolerate a freedom of the press that serves to divided the
country and to open the floodgates of criticism against the freely
chosen government that leads its’. Moreover, much difficulty has arisen
because press freedom has become identified with property rights
(private ownership) and freedom from interference in the market. The
free press theory or the libertarian theory thus protects the owners of
media but fails to give equal expression to the rights of editors and
journalists or of the audiences.
(c) The Soviet Communist/Workers Theory
Apparent
from its name, the Soviet Communist/ Workers Theory is closely tied to a
specific ideology; the communist. Siebert traces the roots of this
theory back to the 1917 Russian Revolution based on the postulates of
Marx and Engels. Themedia organizations in this system were to serve the
interests of the working class and not intended to be privately owned.
An
illustration of the Soviet system would appear to be the same as the
authoritarian model, in that both theories acknowledge the government as
superior to the media institutions:
However,
there is a major difference between the two theories that needs to be
clarified: The mass media in the Soviet model are expected to be
self-regulatory with regard to the content of their messages. Also, the
Soviet theory differs from the authoritarian theory in that the media
organizations have a certain responsibility to meet the wishes of their
audience. Still, the underlying standard is to provide a complete and
objective view of the world according to Marxist-Leninist principles.
Today,
the name of this theory is only of historical interest. Beginning in
the mid-eighties and continuing after the fall of the Soviet Union,
Russia has performed a mass media model closer to the social
responsibility principle. The clearest current example of the Soviet
media theory is how the media function in China, where the communist
government controls TV, radio, and newspapers.
The
Soviet Theory is also called as ‘the communist media theory’. Just as
the social responsibility theory is an outgrowth of the libertarian
theory, soviet-communist theory is an outgrowth of the authoritarian
theory. However, whereas according to the authoritarian theory the press
resides outside the government, in the soviet media theory the press
and the state are held to be one. The main purpose of the soviet-media
theory is to ensure the success and continuance of the soviet socialist
system and to promote the objectives of the soviet socialist party. This
System is found mainly in the Soviet Union and other communist
countries.
Russian
media was reorganized after the revolution of 1917 and this theory is
derived mainly from basic tenets of Marx and Engels. It envisages media
to be under the control of the working class whose interest they are
meant to serve. Private Ownership of the press or other media is ruled
out. The media must serve positive functions in society relating to
information, education, motivation, and mobilization.They must support
progressive movements in the country and abroad.
The
media according to this theory are subject to the ultimate control of
the state and are integrated with other instruments of political life.
Within these limits, the media are expected to be self-regulatory. They
must
• Act with responsibility
• Evolve and follow norms of professional conduct, and
•
Respond to people’s needs and aspirations.The media as per this theory
are not subject to arbitrary interference as in the case of the
authoritarian theory.
(d) The Social Responsibility Theory
An
American initiative in the late forties brought forth the social
responsibility theory. Realizing that the market had failed to fulfill
the promise that press freedom would reveal the truth, The Commission on
Freedom of the Press provided a model in which the media had certain
obligations to society. These Obligations were expressed in the words
"informativeness, truth, accuracy,objectivity, and balance".
Siebert
writes that the goal of the social responsibility system is that media
as a whole is pluralized, indicating "a reflection of the diversity of
society as well as access to various points of view".As opposed to the
libertarian theory, the social responsibility principle is to provide an
entrance to different mass media to minority groups. The journalist is
accountable to his audience as well as to the government.
Most
media systems in Western Europe today come close to the social
responsibility theory. An illustration of the theory puts the mass media
and the government on the same level, signifying an interaction where
both parts are allowed to criticize the other:
The
social responsibility theory is an extension of the libertarian theory
in that the press recognizes that it has a responsibility to society to
carry out its essential functions. The social responsibility theory
ascribes basically the same six functions to the press as the
libertarian theory:
1.Providing information, discussion, and debate on public affairs
2.Instructing and informing the public to make it capable of self government
3.Protecting the rights of the individual against the government through its watchdog function
4.Maintaining the economic equilibrium of the system by bringing together buyer, seller, and advertiser
5.Providing entertainment
6.Remaining independent of outside pressures by maintaining its own economic self-sufficiency.
The
basic principles of the social responsibility theory uphold conflict
resolution through discussion; there is high regard for public opinion,
consumer action, and professional ethics and jealous guard over private
rights and important social interests. This theory emerged in the United
States in the twentieth century, and it is evidenced today in the
Anglo-American nations.
The
social responsibility theory is based on the assumption that media
serve essential functions in society. Therefore, it should accept and
fulfill certain obligations to the society. These obligations are to be
met by setting high professional standards in communication of
information, truth, accuracy, objectivity and balance. In accepting and
discharging these obligations, the media should be self-regulatory
within the framework of law and established institutions. In the public
interest, the media should underplay that news which might lead to
crime,violence, and social tension or cause offence to ethnic or
religious minorities. The Media should be pluralist, should reflect the
diversity of their society and allow access to various points of view,
including the right to reply.
(e) Other Theories Development Media
Development
media or Development Communication refers to a spectrum of
communication processes, strategies and principles within the field of
international development, aimed at improving the conditions and quality
of life of people struggling with underdevelopment and marginalization.
Reflective of the field's historical evolution, Development
communication is characterized by conceptual flexibility and diversity
in the application of communication techniques used to address the
problems of development.Some approaches in the field include:
information dissemination and education, behavior change, social
marketing, social mobilization, media advocacy,communication for social
change, and participatory communication. Development Communication is
for the betterment of the society though raised from a particular group
but affect the whole mass for better.
The
limited application of the four established theories of the press to
the third world countries, which are vastly different from each other
and also from western countries, led to the birth of a new approach
whereby communication is use to carry out development tasks. These tasks
are carried out in line with nationally established policy. The best
source for information on this issue is the report of the UNESCO
sponsored international commission for the study of communication
problems.According to it, some common conditions of developing countries
that limit the potential benefits of other theories here are:
• The absence of communication infrastructure
• Dependence on the developed world for hardware and software
• The commitment of these societies to economic, political and social development as a primary national task
•
The developing countries awareness of their similar identity and
interest in international politics.Because of these different
conditions, the developing countries overriding objectives would be to
use mass media for nation building. In the interest of this task of
national development, the freedom of the media and of journalists needs
to be curbed to an extent. The major thrust of development communication
theorists has been on the use of media as a support to national
development programmes like poverty alleviation, population control,
literacy drive, employment generation schemes, etc. But the
effectiveness of this theory depends on how governments exercise their
right to restrict freedom or to intervene in media operations and how
they use devices of censorship, subsidy and direct control.
Democratic Participant Theory
This
is the most recent addition to the list of normative theories; is
relevant to thedeveloped liberal societies but has some elements of the
development media theory.Mc Quail notes that it is most difficult to
formulate this theory ‘partly because itlacks full legitimization and
incorporation into media institutions and partly becausesome of its
tenets are already to be found in some of the other theories’. In his
opinion, this theory represents a challenge to the reigning theories and
merits separate identification.The main feature of the democratic
participant theory relates to the needs, interests,and aspirations of
the active receiver in a political society. It is concerned with the
right to information, the right to answer back, the right to use the
means of communication for interaction in the small-scale settings of
the community. The Theory favors:
• Multiplicity of media
• Smallness of scale, of operation and
•
Horizontality of communication at all levels. It opposes uniform,
centralized,high cost, highly professionalized and state-controlled
media.
It is argued that the media should exist primarily for the audiences and not for mediaorganizations and professionals.
