Chapt. 11

Mass communication & social control

Schramm: Four Theories of the Press

1 、 Authoritarian

2 、 Libertarian

3 、 Social Responsibility

4 、 Communist

Authoritarian 16th, 17th 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 19th & early 20th century

Crisis of both theory and practice of libertarian :

- Monopolization - Sensationalism- Commercialism

Social responsibility

20th 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 11910 – 1297

1950 ： gate-keeping model in news selection process

1950:The Gatekeepers: A Case Study in the Selection of News

NN1

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 legal2. Economic3. Social and cultural4. Information 5. Organization6. Audience7. Technology8. 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.