Rolls of Newspaper
Media and journalism from a comparative perspective: What to consider?
Lucie Čejková
luc.cejkova@mail.muni.cz
PMCb1006 Political and media systems
week 8

Position papers
•carefully watch for the week assigned
•focus more on your reflection
•cover all readings assigned

Outline
•brief recap
•media and journalism in democracy
•European model of journalism

Media system
= all media in a particular country, interrelated organizations, and actors, subject to a set of
laws and regulations, shared journalistic culture
→ but different media sectors: different business models, ownership, media type, audience served

Media system
•socio-structural factors
•
•political factors
•
•economic factors

Functions of media in democracy
•civic: media should act as a forum
•citizens can discuss social issues
•citizens meet with the state
•Habermas’s theory of the public sphere;
•watchdog: media defend human and political rights and hold politicians and those in power
accountable
•mobilization: media seek to mobilize citizens to be more curious about politics and to encourage
participation
•main role: mediating opportunities for citizen to comment and participate in the public debate
(Jakubowicz, 2017)

However…
•media → vital for democracy → have to be free and independent
•media should have boundaries between media outlets with own professional content and platforms
that only present content created by someone else (e.g. Facebook; Google)
•media should provide the space to discuss × provide professional content × platforms
(participation, but also interests of platform providers)

Media and journalism: Layers
Social-cultural influences on media systems: language (content, boundaries to audiences),
preferences of audience, different societies and cultures (age, social status, ethnicity, religion,
other sub-cultural divisions, locality and regionalism, class and status differences, reigning
social norms and values – and combinations)
Media system effects on journalism: editorial and journalistic independence (political/economic
power, sources, owners, advertisers), type of income, diversity (media types, firms,
organisations), degree of concentration or competitiveness of media,
linguistic/ethnic/national/regional diversity of journalists and media, extent of media system
(variety), type of regulation/accountability
Influences at the level of the organisation: selection of topics (sources, familiarity, privileged
access, subjective influences), news processing (facts fitted to a narrative, significance,
framing, style, picture, words), competition effects (same stories, media hype, moral panic)
Press (institution) – all media types + set of values, rules and social relations; Power of the
press (persuasion, influence) X concentration, public service media, public trust

European model
•Does a unique European model (NB! not system) exist?
•Do models exist that differ from country to country?

European model
•Does a unique European model (NB! not system) exist?
•Do models exist that differ from country to country?
•No.
•Yes, but… There are particular features that are common to professional journalism in most of the
continental European countries (x Anglo-Saxon model)
•Yes, the European model does exist with several specific characteristics that differentiate it
from other models
•

European model
Anglo-American/Anglo-Saxon model – reference model, universal model – possible to hypothesize
alternative/different professional models; more commercial, objectivity
European model – differences: closer relationship with politics (more partisan, development,
political parallelism), journalism had to take a position (social participation,
instrumentalization), press/television models, role of the state (public service media, regulation)
•Four theories of the press; normative theory of media (next time!)

Create your own model
of media
•form 3 groups: journalists, politicians, businesspeople
•create key points to push forward in the discussion
•20 minutes to discuss key points inside the groups
•20 minutes to discuss between groups

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Beattie, P. 2019. Social Evolution, Political Psychology, and the Media in Democracy: The Invisible
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Benson, R. 2008. Journalism: normative theories. The international encyclopaedia of
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Blühdorn, I. 2007. The third transformation of democracy: On the efficient management of
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Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom. Media Pluralism Monitor.
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https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12112
Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. 2019. Cultural backlash. Trump, Brexit and the rise of authoritarian
populism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Jakubowicz, K. 2017. Média a demokracie v 21. století: hledání nových modelů. Brno: Masaryk
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to a Hybrid Audience. Communication, Culture & Critique 8(1), 124-143. doi: 10.1111/cccr.12068
Reporters Without Borders. World Press Freedom index. https://rsf.org/en/ranking
Reuters Institute. 2021. Digital News Report.
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2021
Tewksbury, D., & Rittenberg, J. 2012. News on the Internet: Information and citizenship in the 21st
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Hanitzsch, T., & Vos, T. P. 2018. Journalism Beyond Democracy: A new look into journalistic roles
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Some sources from the many:))

Rolls of Newspaper
Thank you & enjoy FSS Day next week!
Lucie Čejková
luc.cejkova@mail.muni.cz
PMCb1006 Political and media systems
week 8