Page 59 - Comparing Media Systems THREE MODELS OF MEDIA AND POLITICS

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Comparing Media Systems

Now this process of journalist judgment may not precisely de-
scribe a profession. But it does describe a commitment. A commit-
ment to its own integrity.

The key elements of journalistic professionalization are clearly present
in Frenkel’s statement: the notion of journalism as a “public trust,” the
existence of shared standards of professional practice (Frenkel’s “checks
and balances”), and the emphasis on journalistic autonomy. If Frenkel’s
account is accurate the latter was particularly strongly developed at The
Jerusalem Post, where, he says, the functions of editor and publisher
were never separated, and the editor’s independence was “absolute,”
thus guaranteeing “the preeminence of the journalistic interest in the
operations and policies of the newspaper and the company.” At the same
time, Frenkel emphasizes the importance of “interpretive judgment”
and believes that “all newspapers have a character of their own, telling
the story of the present as they perceive it.” He clearly conceives the
expression of a distinct point of view to be not contrary to but in fact
intimately connected with the notion of journalistic independence and
journalism as a public trust: this is what it means to be an “honest
witness,” to tell the “story of the present” as the journalist perceives it;
this is how journalism serves the public; and this is why journalistic
autonomy matters – to preserve not neutrality, but the integrity of this
process of “social judgement.”
This is quite different from the North American conception of pro-
fessionalism as political neutrality or “objectivity.” It would be a familiar
point of view to many journalists in continental Europe, however, and
it seems an essentially coherent view of the journalist’s social role – and
obviously a view that casts doubt on the idea that journalistic profes-
sionalism and political parallelism cannot coexist. We will argue that in
much of Northern and Central Europe, especially, a relatively high level
of political parallelism did coexist for most of the twentieth century with
a high degree of journalistic professionalism, and indeed to some extent
these continue to coexist.

THE ROLE OF THE STATE
The state plays a significant role in shaping the media system in any
society. But there are considerable differences in the extent of state inter-
vention as well as in the forms it takes. The most important form of state
interventionissurelypublicservicebroadcasting,whichhasbeenpresent

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