Social Responsibility Theory Of Press Research Articles

Observance of Ethics in Crime News Reporting with Respect to Pakistani Society

Media is the greatest source of information in today’s world. Media is the fastest way to get news from the remotest part of the world and deliver it to masses. Thus play a vital role in shaping the minds of people. This study seeks to comprehend media ethics in Pakistani society. Main focus is the observance of ethics in headlines and news reports related to crime and violence. The aim of the research is to seek the Psychological effects of violence news, role of crime news in presenting political and diplomatic image of Pakistan to the world, to find the link between crime news and rating of a channel and the role of responsible journalism as concerned for news bulletins. The study lies under the social responsibility theory of press. The method used for the research is the in-depth interview method.

Is Pakistan Terrorist? Front-page Perspective of Mainstream American Newspapers during Obama’s First-year

US President Barack H. Obama’s first year of presidency, January 2009 – January 2010, observes unprecedented surge in overt and covert counterterrorism operations of American military and intelligence and drone strikes in Pakistan which is a non-NATO ally and a frontline state in the “War on Terror” since 9/11. For the last two and half years, Mr. Obama’s counterterrorism policies are being criticized by American academia, politicians and media and giving a speech at National Defense University in May 2013, President Obama vows to rebuild Pak-US relations. This article takes a closer look that what went wrong between the two countries and how the mainstream US press covered the phenomenon and played its social and democratic role for informed citizenry during Obama’s first year. Since US press works on the behalf of American public and creates a liaison between government and the people on important foreign policy issues thus it is pertinent to explore that how American mainstream newspapers opine about Pakistan’s position in South Asia, Pakistani politics and army/ISI, nuclear assets and US aid diplomacy in relation to Obama’s counterterrorism war to win the “War on Terror.” Applying Thematic Analysis method with the framework of Social Responsibility Theory of Press, propaganda and propaganda principles of Anne Morelli, the study finds that the press instead of reporting on Pakistan is running an anti-Pakistan information operation parallel to the military, foreign policy and strategic agenda of the “Golden Triangle” (the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon) to force Pakistan to bow in front of American demands to fight the “War on Terror” at the cost of its men, material, internal and external security and political stability. The mainstream newspapers support the idea of the “Golden Triangle” to control Pakistani politics, army and nuclear assets and they are manipulating public perception and opinion accordingly instead of doing objective reporting. Thus the study discovers obnoxious criticism against Pakistan based on incorrect, superficial and subjective reporting that portrays Pakistan as a country that uses terrorism as its official policy hence it is a threat to regional and world peace and poses danger to US security, foreign policy and strategic interests in the South Asian region. Keywords: American newspapers and Pakistan, Press and foreign policy, 9/11, War on Terror, India-Pakistan-US relations, Kashmir, Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden and Taliban, ISI, Drone/UCAV, Nuclear proliferation, US aid, Propaganda, Social responsibility of press, Thematic analysis.

Use of Visual Communication in Public Journalism

Between 1990 and 1996, more than 400 media outlets in U.S. had undertaken public journalism projects.1 Much has been written about philosophy behind public journalism, its goals, and techniques. Individual public journalism projects have been analyzed and compared against these goals and philosophies, and also compared to traditional journalism to see what, if any, difference exists.2 However, no study has yet focused on visual communication of public journalism in newspapers. Public journalism practitioners and theoreticians argue that content of stories generated through public journalism methods is significantly different from content generated by traditional reporting methods. News designers are taught that form of their designs must reflect content of stories rather than artistic preference or trends. This prompts question: If content of stories generated through public journalism methods is different, and design is driven by content, doesn't it follow that design for public journalism will be different than design for non-public journalism? This is key question that visual communicators and public journalists must address if final product is to truly integrate verbal and visual meaning. The purpose of this research, first of two-phase study, is to explore how public journalism projects have been visually communicated in newspapers practicing this approach, and how they differ from visual communication of non-public journalism. Through content analysis, textual analysis and telephone interviews, this exploratory study examined design and photography of projects at six newspapers; four practicing public journalism and two practicing non-public journalism to explore how public journalism projects were visually communicated in newspapers that practiced genre, and whether visual communication of public journalism differed from visual communication of non-- public journalism. Literature review Public journalism is product of 1990s - its first well-documented experiment was in late 1989 in Columbus, Georgia.3 Even decade later, there are as many operational definitions of public journalism as there are media outlets that practice it. For conceptual definition that speaks to developing theory of public journalism Jay Rosen has said: Journalism can and should play part in strengthening citizenship, improving public debate and reviving public life.4 Public or civic journalism is widely understood as an approach designed to address issues that readers say are important, rather than only those issues identified by experts. It seeks to promote public conversation about those issues that will result in collective working through of problem to resolution. Among its goals are strengthening citizenship, improving quality of public debate, and reviving public life. It proposes more active role for press than has traditionally been adopted. Public journalism derives many of its philosophical foundations from social responsibility theory of press and agenda-setting theory. While some scholars of public journalism trace its roots as far back as Thomas Jefferson, John Locke and John Stuart Mill,5 it seems unarguable that development of ideas that infuse public journalism were an outgrowth of debates between John Dewey and Walter Lippmann over proper role for press in democracy.6 Dewey and other scholars helped lay foundation for gradual shift toward emerging social responsibility theory of press, which was akin to Dewey's proposal of role of press in helping build more pluralist and tolerant society.7 The evolution of social responsibility theory culminated in Commission on Freedom of Press' report in 1947. The Hutchins Commission's work can be seen as forerunner of public journalism in that it called for press to offer a method of presenting and clarifying goals and values of and for reporting to project the opinions and attitudes of groups in society to one another. …