SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORY (SRT) AND THE LIBERTARIAN THEORY.

Libertarian theory takes the philosophical view that man is rational and able to discern between truth and falsehood and, therefore, can choose between a better and worse alternative. Man is capable of determining his own destiny, and given all the facts will make the right choice. This is where the media is allowed to operate freely due to democracy, freedom to express opinions etc.

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech so that the press can remain fully free, and the public can be fully informed. This freedom may sometimes be hindered by corporate pressures and government control. In countries without freedom of the press, messages are filtered through the government, allowing only what is considered acceptable information to be released to the public.

To combat the pressures that threatened freedom of the press, this theory was first introduced in 1947 and was recommended by the Hutchins Commission on Freedom of the Press. It stated that the media should serve the public, and in order to do so, should remain free of government interference. It defined guidelines that the media should follow in order to fulfill its obligation of serving the public.

There are certain similarities among the social responsibility and the liberitarian theory and these are

• There is private ownership in both libertarian and the SRT theories. In these theories, the media is owned by private individuals without government influence or interference.

• Objectivity: Both libertarian and SRT theories, because of their independence from the government seeks to give out facts as they are (objective truth). This is because of the media or press role as watchdogs to government policies. Also it is the mandatory for the media under social responsibility theory to deliver the right information to it’s publics.

• Under both the libertarian and SRT theories, the press is seen as a source of information and a platform for expressing divergent opinions by the public. This enables the people to monitor government and form ideas about policies.

DIFFERENCES.

• Fairness: SRT is under obligation to to create a forum for divergent viewpoints and opinions. In other words the media gives attention to all ethnic groups, tribes without discrimination. Whilst under the libertarian theory the press is not obliged to do so. It can favor some cultures and be bias to others under the libertarian theory.

• Ethics: Under libertarian theory, because of sensationalism there is lack of ethics of the profession whilst in SRT the media operates on code of conducts: code of ethics.

• Professionalism: SRT operates on professionalism. Training and continuing development of professionals to advance and nature balanced and impartial news presentation. Libertarian theory does not place emphasis on professionalism due to sensationalism leading to yellow journalism practices.

• Accountability: Under SRT the media is charged to deliver on ethics, professionalism, and objectivity hence the public holds them accountable for information given out. But this does not apply to the media under libertarian theory.

• Transparency: SRT as part of its social responsibility is transparent in its operations to the public but this does not apply to the libertarian theory. The libertarian theory is not obliged to be open to the general public in terms of it's operations.