Page 22 - Culture Society and the Media

12 CULTURE, SOCIETY AND THE MEDIA
These different influences resulted inevitably, not in a unified set of interests,
but in examinations of different aspects of the institutions of the media. Having
come to the study of these institutions from different perspectives and under
different influences, researchers working in this field have developed at least
four different foci of study, reflecting their interests in different aspects of these
institutions. The four strands of interest discernible in the literature can be
grouped under the following headings:

1. Institutional structures and role relationships;
2. The political economy of media institutions;
3. Professional ideologies and work practices;
4. Interaction of media institutions with the socio-political environment.

In spite of their different foci, the basic issue which underlines all four strands of
study is the process of the shaping of media messages. Researchers working in this
area share the assumption that an examination of the political, organizational and
professional factors which impinge on the process of message production could
shed considerable light on the question of the power of the media. Because
different factors are selected for examination within each strand of studies,
together they complement each other. When pulled together they provide a
comprehensive view of the ways in which media messages are produced and
shaped, and offer insights into the ways in which different influences on this
process are combined in a single composite product.

Institutional structures and role relationships
This strand of studies draws its inspiration primarily from work on formal
organizations. Media organizations are seen as possessing the same attributes
which characterize other large-scale industrial organizations. These include:
hierarchical structures; an internal division of labour and role differentiation;
clearly specified and accepted institutional goals, translated into specific policies
and organizational practices; clear lines of communication and accountability
which generally follow and represent the hierarchical structure; modes of peer
and of superior-subordinate relationships which regulate the interaction between
incumbents in different roles. Most of the emphasis of this approach is thus
placed on intra-organizational structures and behaviour, although some
recognition is given to extraorganizational factors which impinge on the
organization, such as ‘shareholders’, ‘clients’, ‘sources’ etc.
The various ‘gatekeeper’ studies, which examined the flow of news materials
through the stages of the selection and editing process, as well as studies of
formal and peer control in media organizations are the clearest representatives of
this approach.
These studies explained the products of the media as outcomes of the
interaction amongst different members of media organizations. But