As forms of communication evolve, avenues of news reporting increase, and the scope of media influence expands, media ethics becomes an increasingly important issue in modern society. People are exposed to television news, radio broadcasting, newspaper articles, and now digital media as well. The mass media is an intrinsic part of everyday lives. What exactly drives the powerful Western media — government mandates, social responsibility and the quest for truth, or is it the financial goals of large media corporations?
In the book, Four Theories of the Press written in 1963, Wilbur Schramm, Fred Siebert, and Theodore Peterson present four different models of the media. Two of them are relevant to the Western media today, the social responsibility system and the Libertarian system. The former has its roots in mid-twentieth century society and revolves around ethics in the media, but has always existed as an ideal; the latter is more prevalent today, and by nature threatens media ethics.
The Social Responsibility System for News Reporting
In the social responsibility theory of the press, the media is driven to benefit the public. It expects journalists to answer society's need for truth, requires an open and diverse debate on public issues, and honest updates of current events. In this model, media ethics is automatic because the press is free to serve its purpose for the public, as opposed to special interest groups or advertisers. Another condition of the social responsibility model, is that news reporting cannot be dependent on groups that may encourage bias and unethical practices in exchange for financial support.
The British BBC news and the American NPR news are both excellent examples of Western media outlets which fall into the social responsibility category. They depend on their public audience for compensation, not advertisers, and therefore are not worried about corporate interests. They both share a focus on education, instead of merely trying to entertain their listeners and viewers. They have to focus on social responsibility and respect media ethics in order to satisfy the public.
The Libertarian System of News Reporting
The Libertarian model is more popular in Western media than the social responsibility model. In this system, the freedom of the press is endless; it is not constrained by the government, by society, or by media ethics. Instead of being a sea of different ideas, opinions, and voices however, news reporting in the Libertarian system is indeed restricted. It may not be as limited and biased as the media found in an authoritarian society, which would serve the government's interests, but it is still constrained by its financial dependence.
Western media outlets, particularly television stations, rely heavily on advertisers for money, and therefore design their news reporting to support and never conflict with the will of their financial supporters. Also, because of the deregulation movement of the past fifteen years, Congress and the FCC have allowed more freedom within the telecommunications field, loosening laws that were at one time designed to ensure social responsibility and ethics in the media. Today, a large percentage of Western media outlets, especially those in America, are part of a handful of media conglomerates, companies which have to focus on increasing their profits every year.
Media Ethics in the Future
Over time, the free market based Libertarian model has resulted in a number of problems, from corporate and political censorship, to media bias. Stories, that would logically be important are not always reported, and are in fact substituted with more entertaining news. For example, major world issues, such as the ongoing conflict in Somalia, are seldom covered in the news, while media outlets become saturated with sensationalist news such as the death of Michael Jackson. Also, without the requirement of social responsibility, the Western media tends to cover only the political candidates that can afford advertisements, limiting the coverage of various political movements.
These tendencies result in a lack of media ethics and a deluge of entertaining information, but not necessarily the most important information. Major humanitarian issues can go unnoticed for years, environmental problems are covered intermittently, and many voices remain unheard. Media continues to change however. With the internet, there are new opportunities for information to be spread and knowledge to be shared.
The media system of the future may not fall into either the social responsibility or Libertarian model, as the public is no longer dependent on mass media sources for news. What role media ethics will play in the new system only the future can tell.
Sources:
Soley, Lawrence. "Censorship, Inc. The Corporate Threat to Free Speech in the United States." (Monthly Review Press, 2002).
Keeble, Richard Lance. "What is News?: How the World's Biggest Humanitarian Crisis Goes Uncovered." (Media Ethics Magazine).
Brenna Coleman - Brenna is a freelance writer focusing on natural health and beauty. She has written hundreds of articles, helping readers find ways to ...
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