Kaarle Nordenstreng

Social Responsibility Worldwide

A social responsibility (SR) theory of the press has emerged in various democratic societies worldwide since World War II. The Hutchins Commission in the United States is the source of this paradigm in some cases, but a similar emphasis on serving society rather than commerce or government has also arisen in parallel fashion without any connection to Hutchins. Professionalism and codes of professional ethics are too narrow to serve as the framework for a global SR paradigm of the 21st century. Instead, universal ethical principles are the most appropriate framework, and the cross-cultural axis around which these principles revolve is the sacredness of human life. Embedded in the protonorm of human sacredness are such ethical principles as human dignity, truthtelling, and nonmaleficence. These principles are citizen ethics rather than professional ethics; they are set in the social domain where SR gets its rationale. They provide a frame of reference internationally for assessing local news media practices and formulating codes of ethics.

From NWICO to WSIS: another world information and communication order? Introduction

Tunis, March 1976: the Non-Aligned Symposium on Information prepares a programme for safeguarding national cultures and overcoming global imbalances in information flows and communication systems in order to ‘obtain the decolonization of information and initiate a new international order in information’. The mandate came from the NonAligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Algiers in 1973 which had declared that ‘the activities of imperialism are not confined solely to the political and economic fields, but also cover the cultural and social fields’ calling for ‘concerted action in the fields of mass communication’. The Tunis Symposium’s call for a New International Information Order, with mechanisms such as the Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool, was endorsed by the NAM Summit in Colombo later the same year. This NAM campaign, supported by the socialist countries, led to an historic media debate at the UN and UNESCO as well as in media professional associations and among communication scholars around the world. The concept of a New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) became a central element in this debate, with landmarks such as the MacBride Commission (1980) and its well-known report Many Voices, One World. The great media debate and its historical experience is well documented in communication literature (Gerbner et al., 1993; Golding and Harris, 1997; Vincent et al., 1999; Carlsson, 2003), but an awareness of its relevance to contemporary communication debates is restricted to a narrow sphere of academia and some non-governmental organizations. Tunis, November 2005: information and communication issues are once again debated in an international forum. The second phase of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), following the FROM NWICO TO WSIS

Communication Research in the United States: a Critical Perspective

After completing a tour through twenty American university faculties representing communication research (mainly departments of journalism, speech or sociology, institutes for communication research etc.) plus a number of private bases for American broadcasting and advertising research, a European observer is both impressed and upset. He is inspired because of the huge and ever-growing amount of manpower and money devoted to communication research in the USA, and he is stimulated by the impressive variety of different methods in studying the communication phenomena in the USA.’ At the same

Ferment in the Field: Notes on the Evolution of Communication Studies and its Disciplinary Nature

Abstract This article focuses on the changing status and character of communication and media studies in universities in general and critical media studies in particular. First the evolution of the field since the 1950s is reviewed through a number of stages, which coincide with the history of leftist thinking – six ferments, one for each decade. Then the disciplinary nature of the field is discussed, with special reference to the ongoing reform of higher education in Europe known as the “Bologna process.” An illustrative case is provided by a survey of the field in the Scandinavian countries. The conclusion is that there is a need for radical reflection about the discipline in the contemporary world, calling for an approach to media studies in terms of the philosophy of science. The article presents notes for further thought rather than suggests final scenarios, and this is done from an admittedly personal and national perspective – as a veteran of the field and as a member of the Finnish community.

Russian media challenge

Сборник статей, начинающийся с предисловия Михаила Горбачева, содержит тексты российских и финских исследователей о разных аспектах развития российских СМИ в первое постсоветское десятилетие, а также перевод российского закона о печати 1991 года на английский язык. В книге анализируются медиа-структуры, законодательство в области СМИ, роль телевидения во время выборов и другие темы. Приведена основная медиа-статистика.

Hutchins goes global

Whatever the legacy (or lack of it) of the Hutchins Commission in the United States, it resonates well around the world. Cases of national, regional and international media philosophies show that essentially the same social responsibility theory of the press has won wide global recognition, with or without direct reference to the Commission. Its current variant is a paradigm whereby the citizen rather than the media or the journalist occupies a central place. The conclusions of the conference suggest further reflection on themes such as: media as vehicles of public interest vs. media as commodities; media diversity and concentration; the idea about a truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of the world under contemporary conditions; the nature of democracy being advocated. Lee Bollingers proposal for a new Commission is endorsed—as a global exercise.

Inventory of Textbooks in Communication Studies around the World

AbstractThe article summarises a project carried out between 1986 and 1995 by the International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR) through its Professional Education Section. Bibliographic surveys of commonly used textbooks in institutions of communication education were carried out in Africa, the Arab world, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, in order to discover the regional relevance and topicality of educational materials used particularly in the training of journalists. Regional bibliographies were also examined by experts from other regions regarding the interest for translations across regions. The results show that textbooks used in the Arab world and Latin America are mostly produced in the region, whereas Third World regions with Anglophone and Francophone orientation are dominated by literature from Europe and North America, first and foremost the USA. There is a striking lack of knowledge about textbooks available in other regions, with a great interest particularly to tra...

Finland: The Rise and Fall of a Democratic Subsidy Scheme

In recent decades the Finnish media landscape has undergone fundamental changes. As a result of digital convergence and the fragmentation of the advertising market, news journalism has increasingly been treated as one commodity (product) among others. The ideals of democratic public interest and social values traditionally associated with news journalism have lost ground to market values. The business of journalism is thus at a crossroads: The traditional revenue streams of publishing houses are drying up as print circulations are diminishing, and advertisers are searching for alternative marketing channels to newspapers. This development has seen traditional publishing houses resorting to drastic cuts in journalistic resources. Consequently, newspapers are looking for means of scrambling for survival as the convergence of media platforms is challenging the traditional habits of consuming media content.

Recent Developments in European Communications Theory

The global trends in the field of mass communication research can be summarized in terms of two interrelated tendencies on change: (1) a tendency towards a more holistic framework, and (2) a tendency towards policy orientation.

Embroiled in Cold War Politics: IOJ and IFJ (1946-)

After the collapse of the FIJ, in December 1941, when World War II was still in its early stage, a new organization was established in London called the International Federation of Journalists of Allied or Free Countries (IFJAFC).1 Its constitution begins with a declaration where the IFJAFC regards itself as holding in trust the spirit and work of the Federation Internationale des Journalistes. Its fundamental principle is to safeguard and support the freedom of the Press; its activities will be guided by this and by the resolve to see the FIJ re-established on a stronger, universal basis after the war.