Social Responsibility Theory

Definition:
Social responsibility is an ethical framework which suggests that an entity, be it an organization
or individual, has an obligation to act for the benefit of society at large. Social responsibility is a
duty every individual has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the
ecosystems.
Introduction:
In mid 20th century most of the developing countries and third world nations have used this
social responsibility theory of press which is associated with the Commission of the Freedom of
Press in United States at 1949. In the book Four theories of Press (Siebert, Peterson and
Schramm) its been stated that pure libertarianism is antiquated, out dated and obsolete. That
paved way for replacement of Libertarian theory with the Social responsibility theory.
Social Responsibility Theory:
Social responsibility theory allows free press without any censorship but at the same time the
content of the press should be discussed in public panel and media should accept any obligation
from public interference or professional self regulations or both. The theory lies between both
authoritarian theory and libertarian theory because it gives total media freedom in one hand but
the external controls in other hand. Here, the press ownership is private. The social
responsibility theory moves beyond the simple Objective reporting (facts reporting) to
Interpretative reporting (investigative reporting). The total news is complete facts and truthful

but the commission of the freedom press stated that No longer giving facts truthfully rather than
give a necessary analysed or interpretative report on facts with clear explanations.
The theory helped in creating professionalism in media by setting up a high level of accuracy,
truth, and information. The commission of press council also included some tasks based on
social responsibility of media, which are as follows:
1. Formulate the code of conduct for the press.
2. Improve the standards of journalism.
3. Safeguarding the interests of journalism and journalist.
4. Criticise and make some penalty for violating the code of conduct.
The theory allows
1. Everyone to say something or express their opinion about the media.
2. Community opinion, Consumer action and professional ethics.
3. Serious invasion of recognized private rights and vital social interests.
4. Private ownership in media may give better public service unless government has to take
over to assure the public to provide better media service.
5. Media must take care of social responsibility and if they do not, government or other
organisation will do.

Critics of Social Responsibility Theory:

1. Avoids the conflict situation during war or emergency by accepting the public opinion.
2. Media will not play monopoly because the audience and media scholars will rise
questions if media published or broadcast anything wrongly or manipulate any story.
3. Media Standards will improve.
4. Media will concern all class audience rather than focus on higher classes in the society.
5. Media may work autonomously but certain thing is controlled by the government and
other public organization.
Pakistani Media and Social Responsibility Observations by Columnist and case studies
Media is important for any political system. Its importance increases in a democratic political
system. It is a relationship of interdependence between the media and democracy. Media
flourishes in a democratic system. Once the media begins to function as an autonomous entity, it
strengthens democratic and participatory processes and institutions. It has a direct stake in open,
competitive democratic political order.
It also serves as an instrument of 9olarized9ed9 of people into societal values, norms, political
orientations and historical perspectives.
One major criterion to determine the quality of democracy is the presence of free media that
allows the flow of divergent socio-political and cultural ideas and discourses.
Freedom cannot be a license to do anything, or project any perspective the way a media group
likes. The media cannot function in a free-for-all manner and employ its strategic position and
power to communicate in a manner that it causes dissension and conflict in the society, promote

highly partisan and negative ideas or becomes a propaganda instrument for a socio-political
perspective and a political or religious group. It need not target a section of populace, group or
the government for uncalled for and highly 9olarized9ed negative propaganda.
It has become increasingly important to evaluate medias performance with reference to the
notion of social responsibility because its capacity to influence the society has increased
tremendously over the last two decades. Modern communication technology has enabled the
media to reach the large number of people quickly through multiple ways, giving it power to
shape the disposition of the people and their choices. Further, the proliferation of media has
made people more vulnerable to its news, views and entertainment.
In a country like Pakistan where the norms and institutions of democracy are not wellestablished, media needs to play its role with a lot more caution. A democratic system in
transition has a weak capacity for crisis management through political participation, dialogue and
accommodation. Therefore, media has to be more restrained in 9olarized and interpreting news
and other information. Any unsubstantiated news and information devoid of editorial caution can
be unsettling for nascent democracy.
Pakistan faces the threats of religious extremism, growing violence and terrorism. These threats
can make the state system dysfunctional and result in the breakdown of social harmony and
stability. The media needs to play a positive role in stemming the tide of these trends in Pakistan.
This places an additional responsibility on the media to make sure that its operations do not
accentuate these negative trends. Each media group has to use its professional judgment and
editorial control to ensure that news, views and other contents are helpful to defusing tensions
and promoting religious and cultural tolerance and peaceful resolution of societal conflict.
Violence and terrorism and those who engage in these activities should not be glorified.
Pakistans print and electronic media should learn from the experience of the media in other
conflict ridden societies.
The importance of media is going to increase when Pakistan embarks on holding the national and
provincial elections. The media should not act as an instrument of a political party during the
elections. Rather, it should provide as much news as possible on the activities of all political

parties and provide analysis of the election campaign and election manifestos of different
political parties. It should also encourage people to exercise their right to vote. An active media
can check the fairness of the electoral process and report irregularities, if any.
A number of print and electronic media groups in Pakistan often find it difficult to maintain nonpartisan professional orientations. They are carried away by the 9olarized political environment
and cannot get out of a partisan political discourse. These trends reflect weak professional
capacity.
Social responsibility and accountability of media can be ensured by four major ways. Firstly, a
broad legal framework is provided by the state within which the media operates. However, the
state should not micromanage media or interfere in its day-to-day affairs. Recently, the High
Courts and the Supreme Court have restrained the media from making critical comments on the
judges and the courts. This restriction ignores the fact that the superior judiciary has become the
main arena of political contestation for competing political controversies. This leads to critical
comments of how the superior courts are dealing with political cases.
Secondly, the most important instruments of accountability of the media are internal control
mechanisms to ensure that it meets with the primary obligations of social responsibility. It needs
to uphold democratic participatory norms and socio-economic equity and make sure that the
standard of quality, credibility and nonpartisanship are maintained for news, information, and
political commentaries. For entertainment, quality, variety and aesthetic sensitivities have to be
maintained. In this respect, each media group has to address a host of questions and seek
balanced solutions on their own.
Thirdly, media can establish collective institutional arrangements for monitoring the media and
giving advisories as corrective measures.
Fourthly, voluntary societal groups should monitor TV programmes and newspapers and other
publications. If they have reservations on some programming, news and visuals on TV or they
take an exception to published contents in newspapers, they can raise the issue with the particular
media group. They can also make suggestions for new programmes in public interest.

There is a need to increase knowledge-based programmes on current affairs rather than

summoning different drum beaters of different political parties who make highly partisan
statements on the TV or engage in shouting contests with each other.
Given the profound impact of the media on the state and society and its role as an important link
between the external and internal environments of a state, it has to function within the parameters
of social responsibility and it must be accountable to the state and society. The state can create an
overall legal framework for all branches of the media. However, micromanagement of media is
not the task of the government. The day-to-day media affairs relating to quality, credibility,
societal sensitivities and ethics should be left to the media and the society to regulate. The media
people are responsible citizens and it is assumed that they all want Pakistan to shape up as a
democratic and tolerant society with internal harmony, peace and stability, emphasizing
constitutionalism, socio-economic justice and societal development.

On May 2015, report published in the Dawn news