The document discusses four normative theories of the press: the authoritarian theory, libertarian theory, social responsibility theory, and Soviet communist theory. Under the authoritarian theory, all forms of communication are controlled by governing elites or authorities to protect national interests. The libertarian theory advocates for complete press freedom with no government control. The social responsibility theory balances press freedom with reasonable controls and social obligations. Finally, the Soviet communist theory views media as an instrument of the state to promote communist ideology and governance.

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“Theories of communication”
TOPIC:
“normativetheories”
SUBMITTEDBY:
Asma Maqsood 510
HarmainAkhtar499
TayyabaYousaf485
SUBMITTEDBY
Mam Sana Fatima

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Content
Introduction 03
Four theories 03
Question 03
Authoritarian Theory 04
Libertarian Theory 05
Social responsibility Theory 06
Soviet Communist 10
Conclusion 13
Reference 14

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Normative Theories – Four Theories of the Press
Introduction:
Normative theories were first proposed by Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur
Schramm in their book called “Four Theories of the Press”. At first the word “Normative
Theory” was pronounced in USA during the height of „cold war‟ with communism and soviet.
Often it called as western theories of mass media.
A Normative theory describes an ideal way for a media system to be controlled and operated by
the government, authority, leader and public. These theories are basically different from other
communication theories because normative theories of press are not providing any scientific
explanations or prediction. At the same these “four theories of the press” were came from many
sources rather than a single source. Sometimes media practitioners, social critics and academics
also involved to develop these normative theories.
Normative theories are more focused in the relationship between Press and the Government
than press and the audience. These theories are more concern about the ownership of the media
and who controls the press or media in the country.
The four theories of the Press/Media

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Few questions will helps to understand the needs of the
normative theories
1. Is media can published or broadcast any types of content will earn more profits in a shortest
time?
2. Is media can provide any public service even if no immediate profits can be earned?
3. Is media can participate in any issues and solving the social problems?
4. Is it essential for media to protect the consumers from the culprits, business frauds and
corrupt bureaucrats by serving as a watch dog?
5. What people expect from media during the time of crisis?
6. Is media should broadcast the highly rated content even if it has high level of violence?
7. Is a newspaper publishing the unethical business content to encourage the company for its
higher advertisements pay?
These questions are linked and concerned about the media day-to-day activities.
Authoritarian Theory
Authoritarian theory describe that all forms of communications are under the control of the
governing elite or authorities or influential bureaucrats.
Authoritarians are necessary to control the media to protect and prevent the people from the
national threats through any form communication (information or news). The press is an
instrument to enhance the ruler’s power in the country rather than any threats. The authorities
have all rights to permit any media and control it by providing license to the media and make
certain censorship.
If any media violate the government policies against license, then the authority has all right to
cancel the license and revoke it. The governments have all right to restrict any sensitive issues
from press to maintain peace and security in the nation.
Censorship
Censorship is a suppression of any communication which may consider as harmful to the
people, King, government and its nation. Especially these censorship methods are much
familiar in press which against the freedom of speech and freedom of expression. In some other

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cases, the censorship helps to protect the rulers and authorities from sensitive issues. There are
different types of censors like
Examples
stand against the government. Sometimes, an authority gives considerable freedom to minority
thoughts and cultural issues to promote them if it doesn’t make any threats to authority or ruler.
– King is the authority, who has all rights to control the communication and no one can
question against the king.
– During the World War II Hitler and Mussolini are the two major authorities
who controlled the press in Germany and Italy. Press was under the control of the authority and
No press can’t question against or publish against these two dictators.
because the wiki leaks are not ready to compromise with government censorship and realizing
classified documents against the government.
Libertarian Theory
The Libertarian theory is one of the “Normative theories of press”. The theory which is
originally came from libertarian thoughts from 16th century in Europe. The libertarian theorists
are against the authoritarian thoughts. International trade and urbanization undermine the power
of a rural aristocracy which leads various social movements raise includes the Protestants
reformation that demands individual’s freedom and their own lives and free thoughts.
Liberalism means information is knowledge and knowledge is power. Libertarianism is free
from any authority or any control or censorship. The libertarianism is an idea of individualism
and limited government which is not harmful to another.

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Libertarian theory sees people are more enough to find and judge good ideas from bad. The
theory says people are rational and their rational thoughts lead them to find out what are good
and bad. The press should not restrict anything even a negative content may give knowledge
and can make better decision whilst worst situation. The libertarian thoughts are exactly against
or opposite to the authoritarian theory which means the authoritarian theory says “all forms of
communication works under the control of government or elite like king”.
Strength and Weakness
1. Freedom of press will give more freedom to media to reveal the real thing happening in the
society without any censorship or any authority blockades
2. Is reliable with U.S media traditions.
3. It gives more values for individuals to express their thoughts in media.
4. Theory excessively positive about media’s willing to meet responsibilities which may lead
people into negative aspects.
5. is too positive about individual ethics and rationality.
6. Ignores need for reasonable control of media.
7. Ignores dilemmas posed by conflicting freedoms.
Example
Wiki leaks website published all sorts of confidential or restricted files in public space and
especially classified documents. These articles are providing brief knowledge about the
government and its activities which helps people to identify what is happening in the society
and its gives great choices to elect a better president in future.
Sometimes these documents may work against the government and its authority that is why
most of the country is not willing to allow libertarian thoughts because it may affect their power
and kingdom.
Social responsibility
Social responsibility is ethics that guide any action, be it in media or other organizations that
put an obligation towards environment, society, culture and economy. The media like any other
sector should not harm, but should promote environment and socio-cultural aspects in relation
to the economy of the place.

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Social Responsibility theory of mass media is relatively a new concept which started in the mid-
20th century and is used mostly by developing and least developed countries. The theory started
from Europe and took a shape with the Commission on the Freedom of Press that happened in
United States in 1949. The model was designed formally by Siebert, Peterson and Schramm in
1956 in their book. It encourages total freedom to press and no censorship, but it should be
regulated according to social responsibilities and external controls. Content is also filtered
through public obligation and interference
Concepts
Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm
 “Freedom of expression under the social responsibility theory is not an absolute right, as
under pure libertarian theory. One’s right to free expression must be balanced against the
private rights of others and against vital society interest.
 The social responsibility theory of mass media changed the way press published news
from objective reporting to interpretative reporting. Before this theory, facts were
presented without any interpretation. The audience interpreted it the way they wanted to.
This caused problems as interpretation was not based on reality and it affected the social
order. Interpretative reporting and investigative reporting started to uncover the reality
behind every case.
 The media is taken as a place for the voiceless to have a voice and develop public
opinions where each and every person has the right to speak, express and publish. . It is
considered not an end but a tool for social development. Therefore, the objectives of
media are stated to inform, document, analyze, interpret, mediate and mobilize by
creating and finding solutions

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Major Features of Social Responsibility Theory
 Private press ownership
Press is supposed to be owned privately. The government does not own the press. The private
owners should publish within the ethical guidelines and in a responsible way.
 Helps democracy prosper
Media helps in maintaining democracy and does not encourage authoritarianism or
communism.
 Media as a democratic institution
Media is not a part of the government and it must work on its own. It has the freedom to do
anything they want, just not work out of the ethical standards.
 Public participation
Public must get to participate through comments, response, write and get involved in all aspects
of media's work.
 Emphasis on social responsibility
The media must be responsible towards the society.
 Self-regulation in media
The media must have some boundaries within itself to be ethical. The regulations are to be
followed by all the media professionals involved in the particular institution.
 Code of ethics
All the media institutions must have a written or unwritten code of ethics which should be the
standard followed by all.
 Professional standards
The quality of the publishing should be maintained, false interpretation of any information
should be avoided.
 Media role of criticizing government

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Media is allowed to criticize the government roles, works and policies. It is done to help the
government get better.
 Helping eradicate social problems
Media must speak against and an aware person about social problems as it is media's
responsibility to work for the betterment of the society.
 Pluralistic media
Media must write the views of different groups of people and not only about a single group. It
must never be biased.
 Social benefit
Media must work for the society and only do the things that are beneficial to the society. It
should not write about the things that are ambiguous or contradictory as those messages might
cause conflict in the society.
Examples
Reports of health news in the media can be taken as media acting socially responsible. The
media gives information and awareness on health problems. It also provides awareness on some
basic health problems like diarrhea and how to cure them. The media gives information about
epidemics and health hazards. Here, acting responsibly is by not spreading wrong news and
panic. There have been instances of mass panic among the people because of some
misunderstood news on health published by various media. Also, advertisements of harmful
substances like cigarettes and alcohol are considered to be wrong according to the social
responsibility theory.
Reporting on the performance of government institutions and unveil tyranny and corruption by
the media is also an example of socially responsible media as Media acts like a critic of the
government. But, there are times when the media has severely damaged the reputation of some
politicians and political parties through irresponsible journalism, leading to major conflicts in
the society.
Strengths of Social Responsibility Theory
• It helps in avoiding conflicts during wars and conflicts.

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• It accepts public opinion and works for the citizens.
• Press and media houses do not have monopoly as rules and ethics guide them.
• The media publishes truth due to regulatory activities and their moral obligation to do so .
• Yellow journalism decreases as media can be questioned by the law and public.
• There is pluralism and diversification on news and people involved.
• The voiceless and marginalized people are able to raise their voice.
Weaknesses of Social Responsibility Theory
• Ethics are always vague, ambiguous and differ from case to case.
• It is difficult to determine who sets clear principles and standards.
• Social responsibility and ethics are morally obligatory things. Any form of legal
limitations should not be imposed if media is just working in the principle of responsibility.
Laws are authoritative and not democratic concepts.
Soviet Communist
The communist theory of mass media came into being along with the concept of communism.
George W. F. Hegel and later, Karl Marx with Engels were the people who thought of the
theory in the 19th century. Mass media in the view of Karl Marx was supposed to be
responsible for socialist system of governance and communist media was supposed to help in
implementing social policies. The communist and Marxist government rule and communist
theory of mass communication was practically used by the then Soviet Union (Russia) in 1917.
Thus, the theory is also known as Soviet Theory of Mass Communication.
 The government controlled all the media according to this theory and had absolute power.
The theory was implemented to help in achieving the communist objectives for the
benefits of the people.
Concepts of Communist Theory of Mass Communication
 Media is taken as a part of the state in Communist Theory. The ownership of media is
with the state and the country runs the media as per their wishes to fulfill their
propaganda of control. The communist party owns all the media of the country. Media is
supposed to work for the betterment of the state, communism and whatever the elite of

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the communist party tells them to do. Deterring the growth of communism is taken as a
crime.
 The difference between Authoritarian theory and the communist theory is that in
authoritarian, there is private ownership of media but in soviet communist theory, the
control lies in very small number of leaders in soviet communist theory. Government is
taken as the most superior, powerful and important than all including media.
 In Soviet Union, media was used to educate the workers to their develop skills and tried
to show the problems of the working class to the leaders by taking feedbacks from the
citizens. New technologies of mass media were controlled to control the mass. The theory
took other theories of mass media as having bourgeois features where they followed
Marxist, Leninist and Stalinist ideologies.
Features of Communist Theory of Mass Communication
 Media followed communist ideology of governance and political system
 Media was used to transmit propaganda and for transmission of social policies
 Media was taken as government instrument
 Media was owned by the state
 Criticism of communist ideology was taken as a crime
 It helped the working class to work better and highlighting their problems and it made
people aware about communism

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 The theory was a positive one as it tried to ensure truthful information and not let the
information get manipulated by private media houses
 Feedback was accepted
Example
 The then Soviet Union controlled the media totally by publishing all the good things
about their country and governance while not showing anything that could make the
people feel agitated about their own nation. They promoted their own culture and
traditions as the best. They also did not give out news about disasters and accidents.
 On the other hand, they showed every bad aspect of culture and social systems of other
democratic countries like US. They also told their government system was better than
democracy. That is how propaganda was bestowed upon all. These techniques were
solely based on their communist ideologies representing the Communist Theory in full.
 Criticisms of Communist Theory of Mass Communication
 Propaganda based information is only delivered. The information might be false.
 No media can criticize the government and the government will not get the chance to
improve.
 Authoritative obstruction can be found for every type of media.
 There can be many restrictions and there is a concept of punishment.
 Leader is taken as the greatest and citizens are not given importance.
 The media cannot play the role of the watchdog.
 The development of the nation depends on the characteristics of the leader

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Conclusion
The Normative Conclusion Test. For our purposes, a statement is normative if it renders a
judgment about something. Ethical statements are paradigmatically normative. When I say
“Murder is wrong,” for instance, “wrong” is a normative notion. When I say “You should be
kind,” “should” is a normative notion. We think it important that researchers in any field of
science raise their heads above the parapets of their paradigms from time to time, and reflect
more broadly on what Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some
actions or outcomes as good or desirable or permissible and others as bad or undesirable or
impermissible. A norm in this normative sense means a standard for evaluating or making
judgments about behavior or outcomes.

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Reference:
 https://www.businesstopia.net/mass-communication/social-
responsibility-theory
 https://www.businesstopia.net/mass-communication/communist-
theory-mass-communication
 https://www.normative-theories
 https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/npb/people/amc/articles-
pdfs/normtheo.pdf