Page 291 - Comparing Media Systems THREE MODELS OF MEDIA AND POLITICS

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The Forces and Limits of Homogenization

3. Internal development of the growing professional community of
journalism, which increasingly develops its own standards of prac-
tice.
4. Development of new technologies of information processing that
increase the power of journalists as information producers. This
includes the visual techniques of television as well as many devel-
opments in printing and in information technology. One interest-
ing example would be polling: Neveu (2002) argues that opinion
polling gave journalists increased authority to question public offi-
cials,whoseclaimstorepresentthepublictheycouldindependently
assess.
5. Increased prestige of journalists, related to all these factors, to the
central position large media organizations came to occupy in the
general process of social communication, and probably also to
the image of catchall media as representative of the public as a
whole. Thus Papathanassopoulos (2001: 512) argues for the Greek
case (a bit different, to be sure, because, as we shall see, partisan
attachments do survive more strongly in Greece, as in much of
Southern Europe):

One can say that the commercialization and the rapid devel-
opment of the Greek media market have increased the social
and professional status of Greek journalists. In fact, television
journalists and especially television news anchorpersons have
become public figures. They have adopted the role of author-
ities, i.e. they present their views and interpret social and
political reality. They do this by presenting themselves both
as professionals with the right to make judgements and as
representatives of the people. By taking on both these roles,
they increase their public profile and authority.

COMMERCIALIZATION
The most powerful force for homogenization of media systems, we be-
lieve, is commercialization that has transformed both print and elec-
tronic media in Europe. In this section we will describe the process and
outline the principle causes of commercialization of European media,
and in the following section we will examine its consequences for the
social and political role of the media. In the case of print media the later
part of the twentieth century is characterized by a decline of the party

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