Page 245 - Comparing Media Systems THREE MODELS OF MEDIA AND POLITICS

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The North Atlantic or Liberal Model

lateinthenineteenthcenturywasatleastasmucharesponsetotheeffects
of commercial competition as to concerns about political manipulation
of the media, a reaction to the “pervading spirit . . . of vulgarity, inde-
cency and reckless sensationalism” that characterized the “yellow” press
of that era, as E.L. Godkin put it in The Nation (quoted in Marzolf 1991:
27). The “separation of church and state” that became a key metaphor of
American journalistic professionalism had a double meaning. It meant
a separation between the opinions of the newspaper as expressed on the
editorialpage,opinionsthatreflectedtheviewoftheowner,andthenews
pages, which were the product of professional journalists. It also meant
a separation between the business departments of the news organization
and the newsroom. Nevertheless, professionalism did develop primar-
ily in the context of market-based media and incorporated much of
this context within it. The professional routines of journalism in Liberal
societies incorporate a strong emphasis on accessibility and audience in-
terest that is rooted in the market. And the multileveled editing process
previously mentioned always has had as one of its primary functions
the production of market-friendly news. Thus Donsbach (1995) found
36 percent of American and 28 percent of British journalists reporting
that stories were changed “to enhance audience interest,” as opposed to
18 percent of Swedish, 14 percent of Italian, and 7 percent of German
journalists.
In significant ways professionalism, as we have defined it here, has
declined over the past twenty years or so. In Britain, as mentioned,
many scholars argue that journalistic autonomy has eroded from a high
point in about the 1960s. In the United States, the “separation of church
and state” has been eroded over recent years as owners have moved
to reduce the barrier between the business and editorial operations
of news organizations, and considerable tension has arisen with jour-
nalists who feel professional integrity has been undermined (Squires
1993; Underwood, 1993; Hallin 2000). “MONEY LUST: How Pressure
for Profit is Perverting Journalism,” reads the cover of the Columbia
Journalism Review for July/August 1998. In the press this shift has re-
sulted from declining circulations and the fact that newspaper com-
panies shifted toward corporate ownership in the 1970s and 1980s,
two developments that combined to produce intense pressure for news
organizations to pay attention to circulation figures and to the bot-
tom line. In the electronic media, deregulation of broadcasting and
increasing competition have produced a similar, indeed even stronger
result.

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