Page 160 - Comparing Media Systems THREE MODELS OF MEDIA AND POLITICS

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The Three Models

media, which, according to their editorial lines, played conflicting roles
and promoted conflicting interests (291).” Later, elites succeeded in re-
gaining control of the news agenda. Aside from the importance of media
partisanship and diversity – which would not play a significant role in the
United States – what Sampedro found was very similar to the findings of
research in the Liberal countries on media and social movements, and
certainly suggest no less openness in the Spanish media.
Benson (2000) studied the reporting of immigration politics in the
French and U.S. media from the 1970s to 1990s. He again found many
differencesrootedindifferentjournalisticculturesanddifferentrelations
of the media to political institutions. The French media, like the Spanish,
were more distinct politically, represented a wider range of ideological
positions, included more commentary and analysis but fewer feature
stories, and tended to focus more on both political party sources and on
20
organized civil society groups, while American news focused more on
neutral, apolitical sources like judges. He did not find any clear tendency
for either system to be more open to vigorous debate, criticism of official
policy or full information than the other. These are particular studies,
of course, focusing on particular kinds of issues. It seems a reasonable
hypothesis, however, that broader comparative research would show a
pattern of differences in the political role of the media far too complex to
be understood in simply terms of a “backward” Mediterranean media.

20 Padioleau (1985: 307–8) argues that French journalism tends to prefer the role of
“subject” dependent on the state to that of the active citizen, while the American
media prefers the active citizen role. This conflicts with Benson’s research (he also
notes that French media gave the kind of “mobilizing information” that some scholars
have suggested tends to be absent in American media, e.g., advance information about
political demonstrations or legislative debates), as well as our own, which suggests
that American media are often wary of organized citizen activism (Hallin and Mancini
1994).

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