Curran – Press Freedom

– Newspapers have poured money into developing new sites, thereby pre-emptying the rise of rivals.

– The advert of the internet has enhanced the the freedom to publish by lowering entry costs.

– The freedom to publish in the free market ensures that the press reflects a wide range of opinions and interests in society.

– The national press was overwhelmingly right wing and manifestly unrepresentative.

Media ownership:

Capitalist media – Fox News

Public Service media – BBC

Civil Society media – Oh Magazine

ESSAY STRUCTURE

Liberal press theory: the freedom of the press is rooted in the freedom to publish in the free market. This ensures that the press reflects a wide range of opinions and interests in society. If a viewpoint is not expressed in the press, this is only because it lacks a sufficient following to sustain it in the market-place. 

Habermas’s theory of communicative action rests on the idea that social order ultimately depends on the capacity of actors to recognize the inter-subjective validity of the different claims on which social cooperation depends.

CAPITALISM: an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state