The major theoretical frame work of this research work is centered on Development Media theory and Social Responsibility theory. This is because this research work seeks to emphasize and uphold development journalism over commercial news coverage.
Social Responsibility Theory
In mid-20th century most of the developing countries and Third world nations have used this social responsibility theory of the press which is associated with “the Commission of the Freedom of Press” in the United States in 1949. In the book “Four theories of Press” Siebert, Peterson and Schramm (1956) it’s been stated that “pure libertarianism is antiquated, out dated and obsolete.” That paved way for replacement of Libertarian theory with the Social responsibility theory.
Social responsibility theory allows free press without any censorship but at the same time the content of the press should be discussed in public panel and media should accept any obligation from public interference or professional self-regulations or both. The theory lies between both authoritarian theory and libertarian theory because it gives total media freedom on one hand but the external controls on the other hand. Here, the press ownership is private. The social responsibility theory moves beyond the simple “Objective” reporting (facts reporting) to “Interpretative” reporting (investigative reporting). The total news is complete facts and truthful but the commission of the freedom press stated that “No longer giving facts truthfully rather than give a necessary analyzed or interpretative report on facts with clear explanations”.
The social responsibility theory requires the media to recognize its obligations to the public for truthful accurate content and expect this content to be subjected to public interference and scrutiny. The media should also accept professional self-regulations. Communicationtheory.org states that the theory helped in creating professionalism in the media by setting up a high level of accuracy, truth and interpretative reporting and the council responsible for the formulation of social responsibility theory, the commission of Press council, included some task of the press required by social responsibility of the media which were-
-to formulate code of conduct press
-to improve the standard of journalism
-to safeguard the interest of journalism and journalists
-to criticize and make some penalty for violation of code of conduct.
Also, it proposes that the theory allows everyone in the society to express their opinion held, stating that the theory is to encourage community opinion and consumer action, and to uphold professional ethics (communication.org, para.3).
Pitner S., writing of social responsibility on suit 101.com, articulates that the theory is still a guiding principle for the media theory today. She traces the theory’s origin to the 20t century, in the 1947 Robert Maynard Hutchins led commission and recommends the self-regulating requirements of the theory as a check and balance of the libertarian driven press of today. The press should be free of commercial interest and advertise influence in news reporting, focusing only on their responsibility for delivering unbiased and objective news to the society. The media are obliged to not just report facts truthfully but give the truth about the fact, give analysis, explanation and interpretation along with the facts. The Hutchins commission states ‘’for the man to remain free he must live by reasons instead of passively accepting what we see, hear and feel; and he must be goaded and motivated by the ‘more alert element of the community’ into the exercise of his reason as the lack of such goading would lead to the man not being moved to seek truth’’. The press, therefore are to be this ‘more alert element’ of the society and are to keep the public informed- for an informed populace is the corner stone of democracy (coolschool.k12.0rg,para. 5).
Also, the media is to see that all sides of a report are fairly presented and that the public has enough information to decide, Siebert, Peterson and Schramm in the article insist, and that the failure of the media to fulfil the obligation would necessitate the intervention of some public agency.
The Media should expect this sort of check on their performance as the freedom of expression under the social responsibility theory is not an absolute right as under the pure libertarian theory. One right to free expression must be balanced against the private right of others and vital social interests. This scholarly recommendation is given alongside another by the canons of Journalism American Society of Newspaper Editors which calls on newspapers to practice responsibily to the general welfare, sincerity, truthfulness, impartiality, fair play decency, and respect for individual privacy.
Criticism of the social responsibility theory outlined by communicationtheory.org include accusations that the media choses to avoid conflict situations during war or emergency by accepting public opinion, the public and the media scholars will question media’s manipulation of a news story or publishing a wrong report, the media would concern all classes of society instead of focusing on the higher elite class of society and media might work autonomously but have certain control by the government and other public organizations (para. 3). Another criticism of this theory according to Wikipedia.com is given by libertarians (who patronize individual liberty and seek to minimize the power of the state). Libertarian sceptics are wary of the social responsibility theory; they believe that responsibility means accountability, accountability means government intervention and government intervention comes at the expense of liberty. Indeed, the commission noted that continued misuse of press power would necessitate regulation.
Defining social responsibility in the media can be traced back to a key landmark in the field: that is, a report produced by the Commission on the Freedom of the Press, more casually known as the Hutchin Commission. The project was requested in 1942 by the founder of Time magazine Henry Luce, at a time when it was believed that First Amendment freedoms were being increasingly threatened by the rise of totalitarian regimes throughout the world (Blevins, 1997). Led by the then-president of the University of Chicago, Robert Hutchin, this commission deliberated for four years before settling in1947 on the following five guidelines for a socially responsible press in a report title A Free and Responsible Press.
Still, the first formal theory of social responsibility of the press was developed by Siebert, Peterson and Schramm about a decade later in the 1950s. These authors were clearly inspired by the Hutchins initiative, according to their own words:
‘Further support for a public policy for media was provided by the influence of the 1947American Commission on Freedom of the Press . . . This made a clear link for the first time between freedom of the press and ‘social responsibility’, meaning an obligation to provide trustworthy and relevant news and information as well as opportunities for diverse voices to be heard in the public arena. The Commission’s report even encouraged the view that government intervention might be needed to secure the essential quality of news and information, should the press fail in this task.’ (Siebert et al., 1956)
He also states that the basic postulate of this theory is that freedom carries concomitant obligation. In it, the press is to be responsible to society by carrying out certain essential functions of mass communication. As long as the press does not assume its responsibilities, some other agency, according to this theory, must see that the essential functions of mass communication are carried out (Slebert et al., 1956).
Social responsibility theory allows free press without any censorship but at the same time the content of the press should be discussed in public panel and media should accept any obligation from public interference or professional self-regulations or both. The theory lies between both authoritarian theory and libertarian theory because it gives total media freedom on one hand but the external controls on the other hand. The theory moves beyond the simple “Objective” reporting (facts reporting) to “Interpretative” reporting (investigative reporting). The total news is complete facts and truthful but the commission of the freedom press stated that “No longer giving facts truthfully rather than give a necessary analyzed or interpretative report on facts with clear explanations”.
The theory helped in creating professionalism in media by setting up a high level of accuracy, truth, and information. The commission of press council included some tasks based on social responsibility of media, which are as follows:
i. Formulate the code of conduct for the press.
ii. Improve the standards of journalism.
iii. Safeguarding the interests of journalism and journalists.
iv. Criticize and make some penalty for violating the code of conduct.
The theory allows everyone to say something or express their opinion about the media, Community opinion, Consumer action and professional ethics, serious invasion of recognized private rights and vital social interests.
Daramola (2005) helps define the role of the press in social responsibility theory as ‘setting the public good above party allegiance, the newspaper should therefore be free of partsanship but not of principle and that it should actively promote the community welfare’ (p. 174). This rule centres on the press’ recognition of a responsibility to the society and admonishes some form of self-control of press liberty by the newspaper medium and practitioners.
Nwagbara (2010) illuminates the responsibility further to include equipping the society with insight to the goings- on in their environment and around the world, stating that it is essentially the bed rock of the media (p. 19). ‘…the presence of a virile, responsible media practice is correlate of media social responsibility’ (p. 21). He points out however; the present media ills that hinder the press from properly performing this role.
…in the wake of partisan journalism, sponsored news programmes, commercialized media enterprise, political reporting, and propagandistic reportage in operation in Nigeria, the press has taken a grotesque toga in the way and manner that it disseminates information (Nwagbara, 2010, p. 19)
The recommendation is for this media, the press step up to the call of major shift from majorly political reporting to development issues starting with rural development issues. They are also to increase efforts already on ground geared at such developmental issues and also for such development issues to be placed at the top of priority list.