Matakuliah
Tahun
: Sosiologi Komunikasi Massa
: 2009/2010
MEDIA MASSA & MASYARAKAT
Pertemuan 6
Media theories deal with…
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the links between the media and other institutions of society
effects of the media on society and institutions
the links between media organizations and public/audience
audience composition and behaviour
how media organizations work
formation and transmission of media messages
etc.
Bina Nusantara University
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Mass media is seen as…
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a ‘window’
a ‘mirror’
a ‘filter’ or ‘gatekeeper’
a ‘guide’
a ‘forum’ or ‘marketplace of ideas and opinions’
Bina Nusantara University
4
Approach-based groups of media theories
Denis McQuail. Mass Communication Theory. 1983, 1987, 1994, 2000.
1. Macro-approaches
2. Message-centered theories
3. Theories of audience and effect
Bina Nusantara University
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Macro-approaches
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Mass society theory - focuses on society and the power-holding institutions as the source and
determinant of media institution
Marxist approaches and critical theory - based on the concept of class society
Political-economic media theory - focuses on economic structure of media ownership and
market
‘Hegemony’ theory - focuses on dominance of ideology (Louis Althusser)
The Frankfurt School (Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse) - mass media is a
powerful mechanism for creating ‘mass society’
The socio-cultural approach (Stuart Hall) - the role of the mass culture in society
Bina Nusantara University
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Frankfurt School – 1923 School of Social Research
1. Full of leftwing Jewish intellectuals. To a backdrop of the rise of Nazi party
in 1930s. Most fled Europe for America. Turned against America and
returned to Germany.
2. Set terms of debate and analysis of mass culture theory. Heavily based
on reaction to pre-war popular music in Germany and post-war American
popular music.
3. Main members – Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcus, Benjamin.
4. Were reacting against:
• Enlightenment – idea of scientific rational progress. Saw uses of
science as a threat to human freedom. Against America with its use of
the culture industry to control the minds and actions of people.
• Marxism – unlike Marx they put the spotlight on cultural institutions in
society. filled in bits Marx missed out. Reason for no global revolution
was that people were given the sop of mass culture – noT keep them
pacified.
Bina Nusantara University
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Message-centered theories
• Focus on media content
• How the media messages are produced, how they are ‘coded’ and ‘decoded’ by the
audiences
• Build a bridge between sociology, political science and humanities
Bina Nusantara University
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Theories of audience and effect
• These theories are concerned with the levels and kinds of media effects
(intended and unintended, short-term and long-term), individual and collective
reactions (persuasion theories), socialization, media campaignes, news
diffusion etc.
Bina Nusantara University
9
Interdependences between media and society 1
Society produces:
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the demands for information and entertainment to which media respond
the resources of money and time needed for the growth of media industries
the technological innovations and inventions on which media industries are based
the socio-cultural climate in which the media operate
Bina Nusantara University
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Interdependences between media and society 2
Mass media:
• stimulates societal development and change
• accelerates the demands for its own services (information and entertainment)
• contributes to the socio-cultural climate in which it operates (esp. political
freedom)
• diffuses new ideas and innovations
Bina Nusantara University
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‘normative theories’ of mass media and society
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Authoritarian theory
Democratic participant media theory
Development media theory
Free press theory
Social responsibility theory
Soviet media theory
Bina Nusantara University
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Authoritarian theory
• media should do nothing which could undermine established authority
• media should always (or ultimately) be subordinate to established authority
• media should avoid offence to majority, or dominant, moral and political values
(NB! What was said about the dominant values in a class society?)
• censorship can be justified to enforce these principles
• attacks on authority, deviations from official policy or offences against moral
codes should be criminal offences.
Bina Nusantara University
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Democratic participant media theory
• focuses on the needs, interests and aspirations of a ‘receiver’ in a political society
• the rights to relevant information, to answer back, to use the means of
communication for interaction in small scale settings
• favours multiplicity, smallness of scale, locality, deinstitutionalization, interchange
of sender-receiver roles, interaction
• media institutions are in control of their audiences
Bina Nusantara University
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Development media theory
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media should accept and carry out positive development tasks in line with nationally
established policy
freedom of the media should be open to restriction according to (1) economic priorities and (2)
development needs of society
media should give priority in their content to the national culture and language
media should give priority in news and information to links with other developing countries
journalists and other media workers have both responsibilities and freedoms in their
information gathering and dissemination tasks in the interests of development ends, the state
has a right to restrict or intervene in media operations
Bina Nusantara University
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Social responsibility theory
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media should accept and fulfil certain obligations to society
the media should set high standards of informativeness, truth, accuracy, objectivity and balance
= professional standards;
the media should be self-regulating within the framework of law and established insitutions
the media should avoid whatever should lead to crime, violance or civil disorder or give offence
to ethnic or religious minorities
the media should be pluralist and reflect the diversity of society
society and the public have a right to expect high standards of performance
intervention can be justified to secure public good
Bina Nusantara University
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Free press theory
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publishing should be free from any prior censorship
publication and distribution should be open to anybody without permit or licence
attack through the media on any government, official or political party should not be
punishable, even after the event
there should be no compulsion to publish anything
in matters of opinion and belief publication of ‘error’ is protected equally with that of truth
no legal restriction should be placed on the collection of information for publication
there should be no restriction on export or import or sending or receiving ‘messages’ across
national frontiers
Bina Nusantara University
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Criticism of the Free press theory
• applicability to public broadcasting is not clear
• applicability to other communication spheres (education, culture, the arts) is
not clear
• the theory has not much to say on ‘information’
• seems to protect first of all the interests of press owners
• no indication to how to handle market pressures
Bina Nusantara University
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