IMPERATIVES AND CONSTRAINTS OF PRESS RESPONSIBILITY THEORIES AND PLURALISTIC INDIVIDUALISM

OMULA EMMANUEL

BSU/SS/COM/PhD/16/7342

omula@yahoo.com

COURSE CODE: COM 902

COURSE TITLE: MEDIA RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITEIS 

08062486482

Abstract 

This paper examined the imperatives of theories of press responsibilities and pluralistic individualism. It was revealed that social responsibility theory, developent media theory and Democratic participant media theory are theories of press responsibility. Findings show that under social responsibility theory the press has obligation to professional standards of in formativeness, truth, accuracy,objectivity and balance. It was however revealed that, the aforementioned principle and those not mentioned are impeded by brown envelop syndrome, news commercialization and nonpayment of journalists salaries, poor remuneration and the likes. Findings revealed that development media theory confers on the media the responsibility to carryout positive development programme in line with nationally established policy. Democratic participant media theory on the other hand encourages participation of the local populace in the communicationprocess, and creation of grass root media. Findings revealed that pluralism reflects how social and political diversity are reflected in media content and that individualism is sometimes depicted in editorials and commentaries. It was concluded that the realization of some of the principles of these theories is made difficult by unethical practices and news commercialization.

Introduction 

​Press responsibility theories, conferred on the press certain responsibilities, which when judicious implemented would bring about development of society and at the same time bring about a vibrant and credible press. However the lofty objectives of these theories, imbedded in their principles or assumptions seem to be impeded by nonpayment of journalists’ salaries, poor remuneration, poor condition of service, news commercialization and the likes. 

​The ethics of journalism practice forbids the journalist from accepting gratification to publish or suppress news. However, the reverse is the case because news commercialization and brown envelop syndrome in the Nigeria media scene contradict this ethical provision. It is worse in organizations where workers salaries are not paid or organization with poor remuneration that is not paid regularly. 

​Development media theory charges the media to carryout positive development in line with nationally established policy.  Democratic participant media theory advocates for grass rootparticipation and creation of grass root media. But the question is, in developing countries like Nigeria where there are no such “nationally established policy” to propel the media to carryout development programmes what does the media do. Again the question may be asked, who is to provide the alternative grass root media, when the government and the very rich have control of the public and private media. 

Literature Review 

Three theories of Press Responsibility 

​The functions or responsibilities of the press are not in doubt, because the press is critical to the survive of every nation. This position is echoed in Asemah, Nwammuo and Nkwam-Uwaoma (2017, P. 338) who quoted Laswell (1948) as identifying the media with three major functions to the society namely:

1.​Surveillance of the environment: which entails-collection and distribution of information on events in the environment. 

2.​Correlation: Interpretation of information about the environment and prescription for conduct in reaction to these events. 

3.​Transmission of Social Heritage: Communicating of knowledge, values and social norms from one generation to another. 

The above view shows that media has responsibilities, part of which is surveillance, correlation and Transmission of social heritage. This paper will therefore look at the following theories of press responsibilities: Social responsibility theory, Development media theory and Development participant media theory. 

Social Responsibility Theory 

​Social responsibility theory is one of the theories of press responsibilities. This assertion is consented to by Ravi (2012, P. 307) who opines that:

The philosophy of social responsibility is an extension of the libertarian philosophy in that the media recognize their responsibility to resolve conflict through discussion and to promote public opinion, consumer action, private rights and important social interests. 

The 1947 US commission on the Freedom of the Press was what culminated in this theory. McQuail (1997: P, 127) cited in Ijwo and Omula (2014, P. 20) opines that, the US Commission on the freedom of the press did more than lay the foundation for social responsibility theory. Similarly Ojobor (2002, P. 10) asserts that, “the theory originated from the work of the American –Initiated Hutchins Commission (headed by Robert Maynard Hutchins) of 1947 which was a commission on the freedom of the press, and the theory emphasized phrases like the public right to know” and “the public responsibility of the press”. 

The thrust of social responsibility theory according to Ravi (2012, P. 307) is that the, “theory has its major premise that freedom carries concomitant obligations. The press has an obligation to be responsible to the public. If it is not so, then some agency of the public should enforce it. Public opinion and consumer action can be guaranteed that the press behaves”. 

The foregoing connotes that, the media should be free but self regulating, where the media fails to carry out its obligation to the public then individuals and the appropriate agencies of government can call the press to order. 

Social responsibility theory was an off shoot of the abuse of press freedom experienced in the era of libertarian theory. Anaeto, Onabajo and Osifeso (2008, P. 58) state that, “the so called free market of ideas had failed to guarantee press freedom and to yield the expected benefits to the society. Instead, the commercial development of the press and the unforeseen developments in media technology had tended to limit access to the media for individuals and groups. Thus media power was concentrated in the hands of few businessmen (advertisers) and media professionals who had the means to set up media empires”. 

Dennis McQuail according to Ravi (2012, P. 307) summarized the basic principles of social responsibility as the following: 

1. Media should accept and fulfill certain obligations to society. 

2. These obligations are mainly to be met by setting high or professional standards of in formativeness, truth, accuracy, objectivity and balance. 

3. In accepting and applying these obligations, media should be self regulating within the framework of the law and established institutions. 

4. The media should avoid offensive content triggering crime, violence, or civil disorder or harm to minority groups. 

5. The media as a whole should be pluralist and reflect the diversity of their society giving access to various points of view and rights of reply. 

6. Society and the public have a right to expect high standards of performance, and intervention can be justified to secure the or a public good. 

7. Journalist and media professionals should be accountable to society as well as to employers and the market. 

The above principles show that truth telling is one of the responsibilities of the press. However, there are factors that may impede truth-telling. Christians, Frackler, Mckee, Kreshel and Woods (2009, P. 57) assert that, “journalism is often referred to as “history in a hurry”, providing a precise, representative account can rarely occur under such conditions. At the same time, sophisticated technology generates unceasing news copy so that the journalistic gatekeeper must choose from a mountain of options, often without the time to sift through the moral intricacies”. 

No matter the constraint the journalist must try to be accurate, objective, fair and truthful in his reportage. To achieve this media professionals must always act in accordance to the ethics of the profession. This position is echoed in cited in Asemah et al (2017, P. 49) who opine that, social responsibility cannot be adequate or effectively realized without media ethics in relations to practice and lawfully embraced by the practitioners. 

It is important to point out here that the press is not completely free to do what it wants. Baran, and Davis (2007, P. 113) cited Bates (2001) as saying “The press is not free if those who operate it behave as though their position conferred on them the privilege of being deaf to ideas which the process of free speech have brought to public attention”. 

The social responsibility theory as encapsulated in the words of Anaeto et al (2008, P. 58) postulates five specific functions for the press: 

1. To inform the public to enable it take self-determined action. 

2. To serve the political system by making information, discussion and consideration of public affairs generally accessible 

3. To protect the rights of individuals by acting as watch dog over the government. 

4. To serve the economic system, for instance by bringing together buyers and sellers through the medium of advertising. 

5. To preserve financial autonomy in order not to become dependent on special interests and influences. 

Writing on wall street journal, Theodore Peterson according to Anaeto et al (2008, P. 59) enumerated the following points about the theory:

a. The social responsibility theory rests on a concept of positive freedom, “freedom for”, which calls for the presence of the necessary implements for attainment of desired goals. 

b. Under the social responsibility theory, freedom of expression is grounded on the duty of the individual to his thought, to his conscience. It is a moral right;freedom of expression is not something which one claims for selfish ends. It has value both for the individual and the society. It’s society’s sole source of intelligence, the freedom from which progress springs. 

c. Free expression being a moral right, media operators are obligated to make sure that all significant view points of the citizenry are represented by the press. They need not publish every idea, however, preposterous; but they should see that “all ideas deserving a public hearing shall have a public hearing”. The pubic as well as the editors and owners should decide what ideas deserve a hearing. 

Development Media Theory 

Development media theory is another theory of press responsibility. “The underlying fact behind the genesis of this theory was that there can be no development without communication” (Asemah et al 2017, P. 55). This implies that it is the responsibility of the press to ensure collection and dissemination of information and feedback that will propel development. Little wonder Asemah et al (2017, P. 56 – 56) opine that, under the development communication theory or development support communication as it is otherwise called, the media undertook the role of carrying out positive developmental programmes, accepting restrictions and instructions from the state. The media subordinated themselves to political economic, social and cultural needs; hence the stress on development communication and development journalism.

Again Asemah et al (2017) have proved that development media theory is another theory of press responsibility. This is so because the media under this theory is expected to carry outpositive development programmes. This means that, the core objective of the media under this theory is to carry out development programmes. The theory according to McQuail (1997, P. 131) “emphasizes the following goals: the primacy of the national development task (economic, social cultural and political): the pursuit of cultural and informational autonomy support for democracy and solidarity with other developing countries. Because of the priority given to these ends, limited resources available for media can legitimately be allocated by government. 

Given the submission of McQuail above it can be said that, the development role of the media caught across the various aspects of a society. Again it is the responsibility of government to support the media financially to enable it carryout positive development programme. This theory according to Asemah et al (2017) was formulated by McQuail in 1987. The theory owes its origin to the UNESCO’s MacBride Commission set up in 1979. This theory is opposed to dependency and foreign domination and arbitrary authoritarianism. It accepts economic development and nation building as overriding objectives (Asemah et al 2017, p. 56). The fore going implies that, the theory frowns at developing countries depending on foreign media content or foreign content dominating local media, in a way the theory advocates for local  contents that can propel development.

The major tenets of this theory according to McQuail (1987) cited in Folarin  (1998, P. 31) are: 

i. Media must accept and carry out positive development tasks in line with nationally established policy. 

ii. Freedom of the media should be opened to economic priorities and development needs of the society. 

iii. Media should give priority in their content to the national culture and language(s).

iiii. Media should give priority in news and information to links with other developing countries which are close geographically culturally or politically. 

v. Journalist and other media workers have responsibilities as well as freedoms in their information gathering and dissemination tasks. 

vi. In the interest of development ends the state has a right to intervene in or restrict, media operation and devices of censorship, subsidy and direct control can be justified. 

The above principles of development media theory show that the media must accept and carry out positive development task in line with nationally established policy, the word ‘must’ as used in this theory presupposes that, the media is left with no option than to carry out positive development task, it also suggests that, the media needs to give preference to the economy and the development needs of the society. 

One of the things that culminated in this theory was that, the earlier theories could not apply in developing countries. This position is consented to by McQuail (1987, 119 – 121) cited in Ojobor (2002, p. 14) who submits that, because of the great variety of economic and political conditions and the changing nature of situations in developing countries, a general statement or prescription appropriate to their media situation is not easy to make”. The conditions that limit the application of other theories or reduce their potential benefits in developing countries according to Ojobor (2002, 14) are: 

1. The absence of some of the conditions necessary for a developed mass communication infrastructure; professional skills, production and cultural resources and audience. It can be argued that now in Nigeria we have the skill and the audience. However, poor remuneration of journalists and to some extent poor and or inadequate infrastructure still poses a problem. 

2. Dependence on the developed countries for needs in terms of technology, skills and cultural products.  We still depend on developed countries for some needs e.g.a visit to Daily Trust on 7th of March 2018 revealed that they still import news print. 

3. The devotion given to economic, political and social development in these societies varies. 

4. Developing countries have become increasingly aware of their similar interests in international politics and are pursuing them. 

​Development media theory opposes dependency and foreign domination, because theory advocates for grassroots involvement and local development and the acceptance of positive development and nation building in line with nationally established policy. It is the believe of this theory that government can support the media financially and otherwise for it to carry out positive development task and that government can also sanction the media if the need arises. 

Democratic Participant Media Theory 

​Democratic participant media theory is another theory of press responsibility, because the theory charges the media to allow people to air their views. Asemah et al (2017, P. 60) posit that, “democratic participant media theory advocates media support for cultural pluralism at a grass root level. Media are to be used to stimulate and empower pluralistic groups”. 

​Democratic participant media theory according to Enzensberger in McQuail (1997, P. 131) was proposed in recognition of new developments and increasing criticism of the dominance of the media of communication by private or public monopoly. This means that democratic participant media theory was an outcry against the commercialism and monopolization that characterized privately owned media; the centralism and administrative bottleneck (bureaucratization) evident in public owned media. McQuail (1997, P. 131) asserts that, “from the 1960s onwards calls could be heard for alternative, grass root media expressing the needs of citizen. The theory advocates for the right to essential local information, the right to answer back and the right to use the new means of communication for interaction and social action”.

​This means that, there was a call for creation of grass root media that would allow its audience access to the media and at the same time challenge the commercialism and monopoly by privately owned media and the bureaucracy of public owned media that seems to deny grass root participation. The theory insists that there should be juxtaposition of grass root media with public or private media, and that the grass root media should express the needs of the local populace.

​The theory according to McQuail (1997, P. 132) rejects the market as a suitable institutional form, as well as all top-down professional provision and control, participation and interaction are key concepts. The argument of McQuail is that the theory rejects he vertical flow of information ( top down approach), in which the local populace have no say. Rather the theory advocates for a horizontal approach that would carry the local populace along. This position is consented to by Asemah et al (2017, P. 60) who opine that, the democratic participant media theory as part of the working normative theories embraces the principles of democratization of the media for the purpose of accessibility by all and sundry”. This means that the theory opposes the top-down approach and advocates for horizontal approach, and plurality in terms of ownership and participation. 

​Asemah et al (2017) observe that, the major thrust of this theory is that every individual and every segment of the society should have access to the media so as to be able to air their views. Ijwo and Omula (2014, p. 26) argue that, democratic participant media theory emphasizes and supports:

a. Involvement and interaction 

b. The media’s multiplicity 

c. Usage of media in small scale

d. Local nature of media 

e. Reciprocal part of recipient or communicator 

f. Horizontal media.

Assumptions of Democratic Participant Media Theory

​McQuail (1987) in Ojobor (2002) identifies the following as principles of the theory:

1. Individual citizens and minority groups have rights of access to media (right to communicate) and right to be served by the media according to their own determination of need. 

2. The organization and content of the media should not be subject to centralized political or state bureaucratic control. 

3. The media should exist primarily for their audiences and not for media organizations, professional, or clients of the media. 

4. Groups, organizations and local communities should have their own media. 

5. Small-scale, interactive and participative media forms are better than large-scale one-way professional media. 

6. Certain social needs relating to the mass media are not adequately expressed through individual consumer demands or through the state and its major institutions. Communication is too important to be left to professionals. 

Pluralistic Individualism 

​Because of an open and free media landscape with divergent opinions, pluralism is said to be a key idea in the aspect of democratic societies, media pluralism is considered highly important with regard to media policy.

​Pluralism refers to diversity in the most general sense. In analyzing the concept of pluralism, two perspectives have to be mentioned; internal and external pluralism. Internal pluralism reflects how social and political diversity are reflected in media content. That is the representation of different cultural groups in the media as well as divergent political or ideological opinions and viewpoints.( www.mediamonitor.n )

​Internal pluralism plays an important role in news and public affair coverage. Internal pluralism focuses on media content. External pluralism covers the number of owners, media companies, independent editorial board, channels, titles or programmes. A concept that is closely related to media diversify is media profusion which is defined as the extent to which the supplyof media content to a media market exceeds the audience actual consumption of media content (www.mediamonitor.n). 

​Individualism is a doctrine that the interest of the individual is or ought to be ethically paramount (https://www.meriamwebster.com) or the conception that all values, rights and duties originate from individual. Individualism gradually began as a way of adapting to new social, economic and political conditions in Europe. And hence forth, it evolved into social, economic, political and philosophical doctrines expressive of one’s independence, self reliance, self determination and hence individuality (https://wordpress.com). 

​In general, individualism gives primacy to the individual over what opposes her/his individuality be it a social institution or the state. The word individuality derived from Latin word Individuus, meaning “Indivisible” or inseparable (https:// philosophy.word.press.com).

​The advantage of pluralist individualism is that in most cases the press can be pluralistic however; there are cases of individualism depicted in commentaries in radio and television and ieditorials in newspaper. 

Discussion

​Theories of press responsibilities have conferred certain rights and responsibilities on the media however; there may be conditions or situations that may impede these. For instance social responsibility theory encourages the media to adhere to the ethics of the profession, one of the provisions of the ethics of journalism is that professionals or journalist should not accept gratification in the discharge of his or her duties. If the truth be told, will it be possible for journalist in Nigeria to carry out his duties without collecting brown envelop, this is so because many private owned media don’t pay their reporters regularly; again these reporters are poorly  paid. As such the reporters have to device means of surviving. In further amplification of thisfact ( Asemah and Omula 2013, P. 70) opine that:

Regrettably, communication in Nigeria is mainly influenced by economic extremism on one hand and government pressure on the other hand. In developing nations, Nigeria inclusive poverty debases human dignity and causes the scale of honour and trust for money through gratification

​One of the principles of social responsibility theory is that, the media as a whole should be pluralist and reflect the diversity of their society, giving access to various view points and right of reply. 

​Again this assumption of the theory cannot be achieved in its entirety because of newscommercialization. Asemah (2011) defines news commercialization as a situation, whereby the electronic media and print media carry paid news, which does not have identified sponsor and giving the audience members the notion that the news is fair, objective and socially responsible. 

​The foregoing connotes that with commercialization has made it possible for news reportage to be titled or slanted to suit the interest of those that paid for the news. Commercialization negates the principles of fairness and balance in journalism practice. This is so because those who cannot pay to be featured in the news would not be heard. Commercialization negates the principle of democratic participant theory that says, the media exist primarily for the audience. 

​The concept of pluralism which entails how the media should reflect divergent opinions and view points, can be limited in countries like Nigeria by “non payment” of journalist salaries and brown envelop journalism. One of the advantages of pluralistic individualism is that it allows media content to represents divergent views and sometimes personal view as in the case of editorial commentary and the likes. 

Conclusion 

​The theories of press responsibilities have good and lofty assumptions that encourage the core values of journalism, which are objectivity, accuracy, balance and truth telling, however, unethical practices like, the brown envelop syndrome, sycophancy and the advent of news commercialization seems to impede the realization of some of the principles these theories of press responsibilities. 



References: 

Anaeto, S. G. Onabajo, O. S. and Osifeso, J. B. (2008). Models and theories of Communication. Maryland: Africa Renaissance Books Incorporated.

Asemah, E. (2011). Selected media themes. Jos: University Press. 

Asemah, E. and Omula, E. (2013). Understanding the influence of news commercialization on objective journalism. In KSU Journal of Mass Communication (2) (69 – 82).

Asemah, E. S. Nwammuo, A.N.and Nkwam-Uwaoma (2017). Theories and Models of Communication (2nd). Jos:  University press. 

Baran, S. J. and Davis, K. D. (2007). Mass Communication theory: Foundation, Ferment and future (4ed). Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth. 

Christians, C. G. Fackler, M. Mckee, K. B. Kreshel, P. J. and Woods, R. H. (2009). Media ethics: cases and moral reasoning. Boston: Pearson. 

Folarin, B. (1998). Theories of mass communication: Introductory text. Lagos: Stirling-Horden Publishers. 

Ijow, O. A. and Omula, E. (2014). More than theories of mass communication. Makurdi: Selfers Academic Press. 

Individualism/Definition of Individualism  by Merriam Webster. Retrieved on 19th March 2018 for https://www.meriamwebster.com. 

McQuail, D. (1997). Mass Communication theory: An introduction (4ed). London: Sage Publication. 

Ojobor, J. (2002). Communication theories in Okunna ed Teaching Mass communication: A Multi-Dimensional approach. Enugu: New Generation Books. 

Ravi, B. K. (2012). Media and social responsibility: A critical perspective with social reference television in Academic research international (2)(1) (306-325). 

The concept of Pluralism: Media diversity (Nd) Retrieved on 19 March 2018 from www.mediamonitor.N>english>the.co...