Chapt. 11 Mass communication & social control
Schramm: Four Theories of the Press 1 、 Authoritarian 2 、 Libertarian 3 、 Social Responsibility 4 、 Communist
Authoritarian 16 th, 17 th century (printing-bourgeois revolution) Tudor and Stuart Monarchs 1902 《大清报律》:不得刊载 “ 诋毁宫廷之语、混淆政体之 语 ” 。 Charter & Censorship Criticize king/government?
Libertarian 1688— Milton “ Areopagitica”, Mill “On Liberty”, “U.S. First Amendment ” Enlightenment Rationalism Natural right - Media are not governing tools, but means to argue. “free market of opinions”
Late 19 th & early 20 th century Crisis of both theory and practice of libertarian : - Monopolization - Sensationalism - Commercialism
Social responsibility 20 th century USA TIME “Hutchins Committee”/ “Press Freedom Committee”
Communist Soviet Union, Nazi Germany Marxism-Leninism Media are owned by nation and exist only as an administrative tool.
Comments on Four Theories of the Press 1984 J▪ Altschull: Agents of Power 1. market pattern 2. communist pattern 3. development pattern Criticism on cold war ideology
Conclusion of Altschull Media are spokesperson of those who own political and economic power. Media content reflects financial supporters’ interests. All media systems use press freedom as foundation, with various definitions. All media systems commit social responsibility. Other patterns are abnormal. Media practitioners communicate ideology and values.
Gate-keeper theory Gatekeeper is information controller who select, summarize, modify, spruce up, distort that which passes through communicative gate in the process of information dissemination.
K▪Lewin 1947: Channels of group life in Human
Wright 1949 : newsletters – 1297 1950 : gate-keeping model in news selection process
1950:The Gatekeepers: A Case Study in the Selection of News N N1 N2 N3 N4 N1 N4 N2` N3` M
Gate keeper Based on personal or social influences they let the information to the group. Through this process the unwanted, sensible and controversial information is removed by the gate keeper which helps to control the society or a group and let them in a right path.
Influential elements 1. Political and legal 2. Economic 3. Social and cultural 4. Information 5. Organization 6. Audience 7. Technology 8. Communicator
9 elements that influence foreign news selection Timespan Intensity or Threshold Value Clarity Cultural Proximity Consonance Unexpectedness Continuity Composition Sociacultural Values
Think about it The development of capitalist communication system and concepts. Use an example to explain gate-keeping behavior of mass communicators.