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The Social Responsibility Theory Of Media And The Media

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This theory originated from the libertarian conceptions in the 17th century during which scholars recognized order to the universe and saw humans as rational beings. The argument that the early libertarians presented was that by freeing individuals from systematic modes of communication forced upon them by the state and church, they would naturally seek a logical pathway in the pursuit of truth. The libertarian theory gives significance to free will and independence as everyone has the right to voice their opinions. The media or press is given unconditional freedom to publish anything of any kind and play a role of a regulator for the society. In contrast to the theory of authoritarianism, where the press is under the control of the state, media is permissible to be privately owned. Furthermore, the government does not initiate any type of censorship on the media and only holds it accountable to the law of the state. The libertarian theory defines the role of of the press and serving the people by informing and enabling them to make …show more content…

As time progressed, and along with it various outlets for mass media, newspapers started to confine the same agenda to their editorial pages and begin to highlight news more objectively. However, the audience still continued to interpret the content they were being provided by the media the way they wanted to. Interpretation became a problem and therefore the Social Responsibility theory was developed to make journalism better and prevent the misconstruction of facts being presented to the masses. Private press ownership allowed private owners to publish content within the ethical guidelines. Media was used a s democratic institution and public participation was encouraged. Criticism of the establishment was permitted on the basis that the media institutions worked within its code of ethics which were to be followed at all

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