Theories of Journalism

Origins

Theories of journalism derive from multiple sources. Basic elements have been drawn from perceptions about the press as disparate as those of authoritarians in the late Renaissance, John Milton, John Stuart Mill, Thomas Jefferson, Karl Marx, and Vladimir Lenin. More specific ideas centered upon professionalism, ethics, and social control. The first attempt to systematically study the role and function of mass media within a specific social setting was the work of the Hutchins Commission in the 1940s. In response to the increasing criticisms of the American press, which appeared to be moving toward sensationalism, commercialism, and monopoly—and away from objectivity—Henry Luce, co-founder of Time magazine, funded an independent commission of inquiry to deflect possible government intervention. Chaired by Robert Hutchins, chancellor of the University of Chicago, the commission was charged with investigating the state of journalism and the media more generally and making recommendations concerning their role. A Free and Responsible Press, the commission's 1947 report, provided a framework for assessing the social responsibilities of American journalism.

Subsequent studies by media scholars compared and contrasted news media systems in different social environments. Several theories of journalism have developed since the mid-1950s. Regardless of how many typologies may be suggested, there are only a few widely accepted approaches to societynews media classification. They are known as Four Theories, Five Concepts, and Three Movements. Other perspectives are more or less variations of these three models.

Four Theories

No framework of theorizing the relation between journalism and society has been more influential than the University of Illinois Press's all-time non-fiction best-selling book, Four Theories of the Press. First published in 1956, it has been widely taught in journalism courses and translated into more languages than any other media textbook. The authors, Fred S. Siebert, Theodore Peterson, and Wilbur Schramm, proposed a typology of four theoretical categories for understanding news media systems: authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility, and Soviet communist. The proposition underlying the Four Theories model was that news media always reflect a country's system of social control.

Authoritarian theory is the oldest concept of journalism, appearing in England in the sixteenth [Page 1394]and seventeenth centuries. Johannes Gutenberg's innovation of printing with movable type in the fifteenth century led to a communication revolution that challenged both church and state monopolies on knowledge. In response, governments severely restricted the press to maintain absolute authority. The authoritarian concept evolved from the philosophy espoused by such thinkers as Plato, Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, and Georg Hegel. They all consider the individual to be subordinate to society. Possession of knowledge is the province of authorities who justify their control as a means to protect social order. In an authoritarian system, the main purpose of journalism is to support and advance government policies. News media are allowed to operate with government's permission and subjected to government patents, guilds, licensing, and censorship. Although private ownership is provided, news media are obligated to endorse the version of the truth supplied by the national leadership. Journalism must function for “the good of the state” and cannot challenge, criticize, or in any way undermine government's authority. The authoritarian theory of journalism flourishes wherever a “strongman” type of government exists. The concept is widespread in several regions of the world, including parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

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