International Journalism

Four Theories

News media operate under varied conceptual frameworks that help explain the character of journalism in different countries. One of the earliest scholarly assessments is found in the influential work of Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm in their 1956 book, Four Theories of the Press, which divided the world's news media into four categories: authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility, and Soviet communist. In the half century since, their model has been criticized, expanded, and updated by others. The need for revision was clear in the face of the collapse of Soviet communism and the rapid advance of globalization. However, their fundamental research questions—“Why is the press as it is?” and “Why does it apparently serve different purposes and appear in widely different forms in different countries?”—remain fundamental. The authors' contention that “the press takes on the form and coloration of the social and political structures within which it operates” remains at the heart of international journalism.

In their pioneering formulation, the authors based their approach in the political, social, and historical development of Europe, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Writing at a time dominated by the cold war's bipolar balance of power, they applied their formula globally. Their “four theories” remain a starting point for discussion of international journalism. Under an authoritarian system, which they conceived of as the oldest and most common, media are controlled from the top and serve the state and ruling elite. The subsequent development of science, capitalism, and [Page 765]Enlightenment philosophy ushered their second “theory,” the libertarian. This made journalism part of a democratic process in which information was put to the test in a “marketplace of ideas.” Readers and journalists were seen as rational citizens who relied on news to participate in political and social decision-making. The authors saw this system functioning most clearly in the United States where it was characterized by a laissez faire approach to media ownership and regulation.

The social responsibility theory arose in the West in response to criticisms that journalism served big business, was controlled by a single class, was not inclusive, and was often superficial. The development of broadcasting stations made regulation in the public interest necessary due to spectrum limitations. As opposed to a strictly libertarian approach in which only those with economic resources control media, in the social responsibility model, media should strive to include the greatest spectrum of views and sources. Finally, with the Soviet theory of the press, the authors saw a new variant of the authoritarian model, where the tightest control of media was applied to support an ideologically based totalitarian system.

...