mass-communication-theory

OVERVIEW
Chapter 5 Normative Theories of Mass Communication 99
During the era of yellow journalism, most media professionals cared very little for
the niceties of accuracy, objectivity, and public sensitivities. But in the first decades
of the twentieth century, a crusade began among some media industry people and
various social elites to clean up the media and make them more respectable and
credible. The watchword of this crusade was professionalism, and its goal was
elimination of shoddy and irresponsible content.
Some sort of theory was needed to guide this task of media reform. The goal of
this theory would be to answer questions such as these:
• Should media do something more than merely distribute whatever content will
earn them the greatest profits in the shortest time?
• Are there some essential public services that media should provide even if no
immediate profits can be earned?
• Should media become involved in identifying and solving social problems?
• Is it necessary or advisable that media serve as watchdogs and protect consumers
against business fraud and corrupt bureaucrats?
• What should we expect media to do for us in times of crisis?
These broad questions about the role of media are linked to issues concerning
the day-to-day operation of media. How should media management and production
jobs be structured? What moral and ethical standards should guide media
professionals? Do they have any obligation beyond personal and professional
self-interest? Exactly what constitutes being a journalist? Are there any circumstances
when it is appropriate or even necessary to invade people’s privacy or risk
ruining their reputations? If someone threatens to commit suicide in front of a television
camera, what should a reporter do—get it on tape or try to stop it? Should a
newspaper print a story about unethical business practices even if the company involved
is one of its biggest advertisers? Should television networks broadcast a
highly rated program even if it routinely contains high levels of violence?
Answers to questions like these are found in normative theory—a type of theory
that describes an ideal way for a media system to be structured and operated.
Normative theories are different from most of the theories we will study in this
book. They don’t describe things as they are, nor do they provide scientific explanations
or predictions. Instead, they describe the way things should be if some ideal
values or principles are to be realized. Normative theories come from many
sources. Sometimes media practitioners themselves develop them. Sometimes social
critics or academics do. Most normative theories develop over time and contain
elements drawn from previous theories. This is especially true of the normative theory
that currently guides mass media in the United States: It is a synthesis of ideas
developed over the past three centuries.
This chapter examines a variety of normative theories of media, including some
that are questionable or even objectionable. We proceed from earlier forms of normative
theory to more recent examples. Our attention is on the normative theory
that is predominantly used to guide and legitimize most media operation in the
United States: social responsibility theory. For a long time the debate about normative
theory was muted in the United States. Social responsibility theory seemingly
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