This section provides a summary of the main
theories of the press and its ethics, from the 17th century onward.
Societies have transmitted news since the dawn of human consciousness
and pre-literate society. The origin of the modern journalist, however,
begins with Gutenberg’s printing press and a host of social,
political and
A drum transmitter used by Reuters to send
b&w and color news photos before the use of digital photography.
Photo courtesy John Schults.
economic changes in Western Europe
that provided the conditions necessary for the emergence of a periodic
news press by the 17th century. This was a press that included a variety
of news and opinion for sale to a public, and it did so periodically.
It took the form of weekly and bi-weekly “news books”
or “news sheets” in Europe in the early 1600s. (See The
Invention of Journalism Ethics.)
From this relatively modest beginning, the press grew into the daily
press of the 18th century, especially in England. By the end of the
18th century, the press had played a major role in the American and
French revolutions and were a major social force. The press was a
“fourth estate.”
Across the 19th century, a more commercial and popular press developed
into the mass commercial press of the late 1800s, now both economic
and social force. The large commercial newspapers were the first mass
medium. They had the staff, technology and economic means to pursue
news with speed and across great distances. Rather than stress opinion,
the mass newspapers began to stress the “business of news,”
while journalism associations stressed the virtues of professionalism,
objectivity and factual accuracy. In the 20th century, broadcast news
media would join the newspapers.
By the end of the 1900s, computers linked to the Internet would create
a communication revolution that would challenge the social position
and standards of the professional, commercial press that had developed
in the previous century.
In summary, we can identify four revolutions in
Western journalism:
1. The development of a limited, but novel,
“periodic news press” in the 1600s
2. The expansion of the daily press in the 18th century public sphere
3. The development of a liberal press in the 19th century, culminating
in a mass commercial newspaper
4. The emergence of “new media” -- global and interactive
-- in the 1900s
Theories of the Press
In an influential text from the 1950s, Four Theories of the
Press, the authors outlined a number of “theories of
press” since the 17th century.
1. Authoritarian theory of the press: The function of the press
is to support the policies and actions of the state, and its authorities.
The press should foster social solidarity and national unity. The
state has the right to control the press for the overall public
good. In many cases, controlling the press means preventing the
press from embarrassing the existing government, to repress criticism
and protest, and to severely restrict press freedom. The authoritarian
view was prevalent in 17th century Europe where publishing came
under the prerogative and censorship powers of the monarch and church.
The authoritarian theory is embraced today by many leaders of non-democratic
states.
2. Libertarian (or liberal) theory of the press: The function of
the press is to protect the people’s liberties and rights,
and to inform the public so they can participate as citizens in
democratic self-government. The liberal theory prefers a privately
owned news media that is maximally free to inform citizens and criticize
public policy, as well as act as a watchdog on authorities. The
right to publish and express oneself freely is not a prerogative
of the state or a government. It is a fundamental right of free
individuals. The liberal theory argues that a free marketplace of
ideas, while it may cause harm over the short term, is the best
safeguard in the long run for a free and liberal society.
3. The social responsibility theory: The social responsibility theory:
Four Theories describes social responsibility theory as a 20th century
development and critique of libertarian theory. It attempts to balance
the liberal stress on the freedom of the press. It argues that such
freedoms of a powerful news media must be balanced by social responsibilities.
Journalists have a duty to provide well-contextualized news in a
comprehensive manner. They have a duty to provide a diverse forum
of views and values. They have a duty to go beyond entertaining
news consumers and to provide a core of in-depth analysis on the
most serious issues.
Quickstudy: Siebert, Fred et al. Four Theories of the Press.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1956
In The Invention of Journalism Ethics, I provide an alternate, more
nuanced, history of press theory and the development of journalism
ethics, going beyond Four Theories. I identify six major stages
in the development of journalism ethics.
Stage one: The invention of journalism ethics in the periodic news
press of the 17th century, especially in London. The two traditions
of factual news reporting and independent opinion-making begin here.
Editors claim to adhere to such norms as impartiality, truth-telling,
unbiased observation, credible informants, etc.
Stage two: The “public” ethic: The development of the
18th century public sphere stimulated the growth of a more free
and diverse press, including the first daily newspapers. The roles
of journalist, news reporter and editor emerge. Journalists take
on the persona of reporter, reformer, “polite” commentator
and revolutionary. By the end of the century, the press is a “fourth
estate,” a social force to be feared or praised. All forms
of journalism justify their behaviour by appeal to their role as
a “tribune” and protector of the public and its liberty.
Stage three: The liberal theory of the press: The liberal theory
is, strictly speaking, a 19th century phenomena, although it has
long roots in the writings of Milton, Hume and other thinkers of
the 17th and 18th centuries. It received its definitive defence
in Mill’s On Liberty.
The liberal press was a creature of liberalism as a social movement
of an ascendant middle class in England and other countries. Liberalism
stressed liberty, a society organized around “merit”
and knowledge, and wider political representation. Liberalism stressed
a free marketplace in the world of ideas and in the economy. Social
progress would come through education, social reform and a press
that supported liberal ideas.
Note: "Liberal press" is a misnomer. There were at least
two types of liberal newspaper across the 19th century: the elite
and egalitarian liberal newspapers. The English liberal press of
the mid-1800s, such as the Times of London, exemplified the elite
liberal newspaper. Its primary mission was that of serving the liberal
elites, providing weighty opinion and educating the masses. The
egalitarian liberal paper began as the cheap “penny”
papers that began in the 1830s in major American cities and grew
into a mass commercial press. This popular press depended on wide
circulation and advertising. It had a brighter, more accessible
style. Its mission was to provide “news for all” and
to support a growing, egalitarian democracy.
Stage four: Objectivity and the mass commercial press: By the end
of the 1800s, the development of a professional “news”
press gave birth to the doctrine of objectivity -- the ideal of
the reporter as an independent, objective observer of events. This
“traditional objectivity” became a strict methodology
in newsrooms for eliminating opinion in the writing of news. By
the 1930s, mainstream newspapers came to be defined in large part
by an objectivity that was summarized by the mantra, “just
the facts.”
Stage five: The return of interpretive journalism: Objectivity was
challenged from the beginning by other forms of journalism -- the
muckrakers of the early 1900s, the interpretive journalism of Time
magazine and the new tabloid papers. Also, from the 1960s onward,
objectivity was challenged by the more personal form of broadcast
news and by the popularity of investigative and literary journalism.
By late century, the objective tradition was weakened further by
the “civic journalism” movement and by on-line journalism.
Journalism ethics in the 20th century was characterized not only
by the dominance of objectivity, but also by its decline, and the
return of a more interpretive journalism.
Stage six: Global journalism ethics in the 21st century: The major
question of journalism ethics today is what type of ethics should
develop in the 21st century. Will interpretive journalism, in the
form of blogging or citizen-to-citizen communication, overwhelm
the professional ethics of objectivity and verification developed
by more traditional forms of journalism?
How should the ethics of journalism change to face the challenges
of a new media environment? To make matters more complicated, the
news media are now global in a radically pluralistic world. Is a
new global journalism ethics required? See Global
Journalism Ethics.
