Sesión 3. Miércoles 2 de marzo La dimensión praxeológica: la comunicación como práctica, como profesión y como política.Cátedra en Estudios Socioculturales. ITESO, 2011. Dr. Raúl Fuentes Navarro.

1. 16 The social origins and uses
of media and communication
research
KIaus Bruhn jensen
typesof'theory' which s
.a of the normotive of media
.a description of media and communication research a socialinstitution
as
.a comparison of the main applications of media research in policy and politics
.a discussion of both ethicsand logisticsas aspects of the relations between researchers,the academic
community, respondents. wider socialcommunities.
and
THEORIES INTO PRACTICE reflexivity about the role of media in society.~
M k. br In offering their perspectives, researchers parti-
a Ing pu IC cipate in a double hermeneutic (Giddens 1984):
This final chapter returns to a number of the they reinterpret the 'lar theories' (Furnham
issues which motivate media students and re- 1988) of 'ordinary' social agents, and feed
searchers in the first place. Indeed, why study those reinterpretations back into society. For
the media? (Silverstone 1999). Individual re- example, citizens' lay theories of the category
searchers' are prompted, in part, by the same of 'public opinion' vary widely (Herbst
concerns which bring major economic and 1993), mar differ from those of political and
political agents to focus on the afea. The mod- media theorists, but are, nevertheless, informed
ern media are sources of power as well as over time by scientific theory, in part, through
of meaning -mediated meanings can have media. In addition, programming decisions
powerful social consequences. Accordingly, this by television executives have been centrally
chapter examines the three-way relationship shaped by new research on the 'active' audience
between the media, research, and the rest of the (Eastman 1998).
social system. Media studies, like their object of Alvesson and Skoldberg (2000: 248) have
analysis, originate from a particular social and gone on to suggest several additional types of
historical setting. Part of the relevance of media hermeneutics. For instance, a 'triple' hermeneu- doubleand
studies is tha:t they mar contribute to the social tics would be performed by critical theory with trip!ehermen-
eutlcs
conditions under which communication will the specific aim of exposing and ending rela-
take place in the future. tions of social dominance. Thegeneral point of
Like the media themselves, then, university hermeneutics in this regard is that all social
departments and other research organizations
mar be understood theoretically as institu-. ..media research second-order
as mstltutlon-to-thmk-
tions-to-think-with, enabling (second-order) with -Chapter 1, p. 6
-

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3. Theories into practice 275
ANALYSISBOX 16.1 THE SIGNSOF SCIENCE
Media and communication researchers reir on varied means of representation and expression in
arder to arrive at an understandingof the empirical field themselves, share findings and issues
to
with colleagues,and to present their studies to an interested publicoWhile other sections of this
chapter consider both different ways of 'making public' and the relevant audiences,the purpose
of this brief element is to reflect on the signs of science -the concrete means of communicat-
ing research.This can be an important way of keeping research self-reflexive,scientifically as well
as socially.As noted, for instante, in the discussion of rhetoric in Chapter 2, signs and numbers
are never innocent, but carry implicit premises (see further Barrow 1992).
Models and other means of display have been integral to the development of media studies
(for additional referentes on scientific illustration, see Lee and Mandelbaum 1999; McQuail and
Windahl 1993;Shore 1998).Whereas tables and figures mar be associatedspecificallywith quan-
titative traditions of research,Chapter 14 noted how visual display,coding, and modeling are also
an important part of qualitative analysis.
Throughout this volume, a number of verbal,mathematical,and graphic forms have been used
to communicate different points. In review,so me of the main types mar be described as follows:
.literature reviews and theoretical arguments in all chapters in verbaldiscourse;
.conceptual models of a partían of the field, as represented in either graphic displays(e.g.,
Figure S.2) or in multiple-field matrices(e.g.,Figure7.2);
.analytical examples (e.g.,the analysisboxes,such as Box 14.1),employing prose, graphic
displays,and imagesto represent the object of analysisand aspects of the analytical process
(e.g.,Chapter 8 on The Big S/eep);
.tables summarizing findings in terms of a numericaldistribution(e.g.,
Table 13.1);
.scattergram, indicating correlations between data elements concerning,for instance,opinions
and media preferentes (Figure 9.4);
.time line,locating shifting technologies and institutions of communication in relation to each
other (Figure 2. 1).
(Other common formats of presentation include bar charts, histograms,line graphs,and pie charts.
(See further Deacon et al. 1999:93-98.»
4 Everyday theory. Finally, the public's inter- economic sector, and a political institution in
action with media as consumers, citizens, and, their own right, the technological media have
occasionally, sources of information is guided generated a large proportion of commercially
by a number of everyday or cornmon-sense motivated as well as socially concerned re-
notions of what media are, how they opera te, search. From its initiation, the field was part and
and in whose interests. parcel of the emergente by the 1930s of what
Beniger (1986) termed 'the control society' -the control
Other chapters in this volume have emphasized characterized by a greatly intensified surveil- society
the scientific theories which constitute the aca- lance of society, both by individuals through the
demic media field. The professional and every- media, and by private as well as public agencies
dar theories that enter into media production through, for example, market research and
and reception have also, in part, beenaddressed. opinion polling. Several of the early 'milestones'
This chapter shifts the emphasis toward norma- of media research~ were produced in response
tive theory, examining, as well, its interrelations to perceived social problems (e.g., violence,
particularly with scientific theory.
Being a strategic cultural reS'ource,a major ..milestones mediaresearch
of -Chapter 10,p. 158

4. 276 Social origins and uses of research
propaganda) which were associated with the allowed to disseminate information on any
media as well as with the new urban and inter- social scale, being subject, as well, to censor-
national realities embedding them -a different ship, and their audiences were just that -recip-
culture of time and space (Kern 1983). ients of messages from political and religious
The mediatization of (Western) societies is authorities who knew better. While rarely
perhaps best understood as one element of the advocated as such, being the unspoken doxa of
processes of bureaucratization and rationaliza- the medieval, feudal order, the authoritarian
tion that were then taking place as aspects of theory provided the contrast against which
modernization in politics and economy. ~ A key most later theori~s defined themselves.
role of mediabecame that of facilitating the 2 L ob o h lo 1
II b oo
l d O. f o o I I ertarlan t eory.
I era t eory t was b I h
oyera sta Y anlit mtegratlon o mcreasmg y h. h . h lo o f b h
I o I C o b ' Th w IC , m t e areas o ot po ItlCS an d com-
comp ex socia systems. UI onOf e nor- o o o o
o o. .murncatlon, challenged authorltarlan models.
matlve theorles provlded a framework of Ideas L Ob lo o f d h I h °
d O' o o I era Ism m orme t e arger s I ft f rom tra d -
an Ideals for addressmg Issues of ~oclal power, o o o o
I d o o d lo o I d I I Itlonal to modern social structures, as eplto-
persona
o I entlty, an po Itlca an cu tura o d o h bl o h ~ N I
h o l . d o d o o mlze m t e pu IC sp ere. ~ ot on y were
rlg ts m re atlon to me late commurncatlon. h d fi d d o h I o
umans e ne as en s m t emse ves, Wlt h
certain inalienable political, economic, and cul-
NORMATIVE THEORIES tural rights; they were al so conceived as ratio-
o o o. nal animals with the ability collectively to
The entlre set of normatlve theorles Illustrates d fi d d O. h gh
o O o fy °
h od oh I ho o e ne an a mmlster suc rl ts. ne urn mg
ow leas Wlt a ong Istory are sometlmes
b ol o d f o I ho o I metaphor became the 'marketplace of ideas,'
mo I Ize or partlcu ar Istorlca purposes. o
C . f o h o d f suggestlng that the market for goods and
ertam o t elr constltuents ate rom o o .o
R o d E l h . od I d servlces would also empower mdlvlduals to
. enalssance
d
m ee ,
d f
rom
an
h S
t e
n Ig tenment
ocratlc
o d o I
la ogue
I ea s
as a means
an ,
promote
o
thelr
o
politlcal
o
interests and cultural
f o gh
o d f d o h o II Ideals through the press (or to establish one
o true msl t, an o omg w at IS mora y o
d H h o h o themselves). The resultmg competition of ideas,
goo. owever, t e normatlve t eorles were
o I d ofi II h d o fi Id o presumably, would benefit society as such.
artlcu ate specI ca y to t e me la e m
the context of the Cold War. AIso in this emerg- 3 Totalitarian theory. The occasion for formu-
ing academic field, the period pitted differ- lating the normative theories, as noted above,
ent models of society against each other. The was the Cold War, specifically the implementa-
classic publication identified tour theories, tion of a totalitarian or communist theory of the
with special reference to the printed press press in a number of countries following World
(Siebert et al. 1956): War 11. The distinction between totalitarian
and authoritarian theory (and their relation to
1 Authoritarian theory. A traditional model of fascism during the 1930s) can be, and has
publicity took for granted a social and religious been, debated. Still, it was characteristic that the
cosmology which mar be described as a central control of communist regimes over
pyramid or chain of being. ~ Here, everything media was officially conceived as a means of
had its righful place, and 'information' tIowed fundamentally restructuring society, rather than
top-down from the monarch, being the repre- preserving any social pyramid. Centralized
sentative of divine authority on earth. Far from control, moreover, equaled state or government
beinga means of oppression, the pyramid could control over all means of production, whether
be understood as a framework that enabled it was meaning or material goods being pro-
individuals to tIourish on the road to their duced. Following the breakup of communist
destiny. Only especially reliable persons were systems in Europe from 1989, in the People's
Republic of China the development of new
journalistic practices still takes place within a
..modernization -Chapter 11, p. 143
..the great chain oí being -Chapter 2, p. 21 ..the public sphere-Chapter 1, p. 7

5. Normative theories 277
relatively fixed political-economic system (e.g., to gain a hearing in world media, and to deter-
Pan 2000). mine the shape of their own media systems.
4
Socla o1 responsl ob Iol ley t h eory.
o A
s
h ° ft
I
o
m
Debate was further
o
complicated by the fact that
o references to Ideals such as 'free flow' and 'self-
emphasis, from liberalldeals toward an under- d o o,
do
stan mg o
f t he press an d ot her me d la as o etermmatlon con Id o
o o
serve as fronts, elt her f or
o
o o economlc expanslomsm or for governments
trustees or representatlves of the publlc, has o
o
taken place in the Western world partlcularly promotlng t hemse1 ves abroa d and repressmg o
h o .o
.o. 1945. For one thmg, the growmg con-
smce t elr Cltlzens at hame. A s suggeste b y t he
d
k f h M B .d (1980) C o.
..wor
centration and conglomeratlon of the media o o t e ac n e ornrnlSSlon, t he
o. " Issues have proven d Io cu1 to f ormu 1 m any
ffi t ate o
sector mcreasmgly undercut any simple notlon h o o h
.compre enslve normatlve t eory, but contlnue
o
of a 'free press.' For another, some new media o.
.o o to generate mternatlona 1 debate as we 11 as
forros, especially radio and televlslon, at least
o O" researc. h F or exampe, 1 Hus b an d (1996) has
for a penod were lImlted m number for tech- . d d h . f '.h b d
o .mtro uce t h .
e notlon o a ng t to e un er- t e rlg h t to
nologlcal reasons. Furthermore, all
d' o h
technologl-
1 o h o bl ' h be under-
.stoo
cal media require economlc resources and m t e mu tI-et mc pu IC sp ere. stood
professional skills on a scale which promotes 6 Democratic-participant theory. Particularly
large organizations and concentration gener- in the Western world, the 1960s witnessed a
ally. Whereas references to social responsibility second type of upheaval around media, associ-
accordingly have been witnessed in several ated with the political mobilization and cultural
media types, European public service broad- critique by anti-authoritarian movements.oo4 On
casting represents a particularly elaborate and the one hand, the social responsibility of the
institutionalized expression of social responsi- mainstream media, their political and cultural
bility theory.oo4 diversity in practice, was challenged. On the
other hand, information and communication
Apart from the inherently controversial status technologies appeared to offer the means of a
of normative theories, later commentators have novel forro of political as well as cultural
noted that the tour types fail to capture several democracy. Moving beyond the liberal and
developments in media over the past tour responsibility theories, democratic-participant
decades. In particular, media systems in the theory proposed steps toward ensuring public
developing world and the growth of media involvement, by structural means and not
forros with increased public participation -merely by individual initiative (Enzensberger
from local radio to the Internet -have led to 1972 [1970]). It is this participatory ambition
the formulation of two further positions (see which, in part, has fueled 'grass-roots' media
also McQuaiI1983): (e.g., Downing 2000; Glessing 1970), and it
continues to inform ideals regarding Internet
5 Developmenttheory.Inthecontextofdecol- communication (e.g., Rheingold 1994).
onization, the 1960s witnessed intensifying
debates about media in relation to the 'Third In continuing debate and research, several
World' (while the other two 'worlds' were con- additional varieties of normative theory have
fronting each other in the Cold War). The issues been outlined (seeNerone 1995; Nordenstreng
included an imbalance in the flow of news in the 1997), some of which are outgrowrhs or close
world and the possible international as well as allies of scientific media theories, for example,
national, local means of redressing ir. Attempts on intercultural or postcolonial issues.oo4
at developing a comprehensive theory in this Broadly speaking, however, most normative
regard had to weigh conflicting interests -a (and many scientific) theories rodar emphasize
generally desirable 'free' flow of information in
the world versus the right of individual cultures
..anti-authoritarianmovements-Chapter 3, p. 56
..intercultural andNorth-Southcommunicarion -
..public service
broadcasting 283
-p. Chapter11,p. 177
~.~

6. ~
278 Social origins and uses of research
either critical-reformist or pluralist-functional- Against this historical background, the 'four-
ist criteria -a conflictual or consensual model plus-two' normative theories remain relevant
of society -in evaluating media performance. A points of reference by articulating political,
related opposition between 'state' and 'market' economic, and cultural ideal s which still enter
is commonly referred to in policy discussions of into contemporary public and policy debates.
how to enSille the 'freedom' of media. (On issues of justice, with largely unexamined
Part of the difficulty of debating the real implications for media, see Rawls 1999.)
conflicts and high stakes in the afea beyond The normative 'theories' have been sup-
simple oppositions has been the ambiguity of ported primarily by abstract reasoning and
from negative the concept of freedom in sociopolitical and, principled argumento Nevertheless, they amount
to.~ositive later, communication theory. Different accounts to strongly held beliefs on which whole societies
defimtlonsof ..
freedomtend to assume either a negative defirntion have beenprepared to act, to use pragmatlst ter-
(freedom (rom state interference in communi- minology (Joas 1993), and, indeed, to plan
cation) or a positive definition (freedom to their entire system of communication. A central
demand certain media provisions as a civic role of media research, approximately since the
right). Habermas (1989 [1962]) traced this 1956 statement of the normative theories, has
ambiguity to shifting notions of how state or been to differentiate and strengthen the social
government agencies should interact with bases of reasoning, argument, and action in
various sectors of economic and other social relation to the media. Media and cornmunica-
life. The modero period was inaugurated by tion research has developed at the crossroads of
the negative definition of freedom, as the new several social sectors and intellectual currents.
middle classes asserted their political and eco-
nomic rights vis-a-vis the state. However, a pos- MEDIA RESEARCH AS A SOCIAL
itive redefinition of rights, involving economic INSTITUTION
regulation and social services along Keynes-
ian principies, followed from world crises in l t e1 tua I cuIt ures
,
.n ,ec
the late nineteenthcentury and especlallythe
1930s. It was this reorganization of the society- A modero locus classicusregarding the relation-
state nexus which presumably preserved the ship between theory and practice (Lobkowicz
larger system of industrial capitalism and repre- 1967) -between knowing that something is the
sentative government. case and knowing how to act accordingly -was
One should constantly keep in mind that cur- the statement by Karl Marx in bis Theses on
rent debates about normative mediatheory take Peuerbach (1845), that 'The philosophers have
place in the context of highly regulated political only interpreted theworld, in various ways; the
economies -at least in the Western world, and point, however, is to change it.' Whether or not
despite measures of deregulation particulatly individual scholars have drawn either revolu-
since the 1980s. Any reference to a negative tionary or reformist consequences from such a
def1nition of media freedom ('less state interfer- view, it is undeniable that, at the institutional
ence, more freedom of expression') is likely to level, research participates in actively shaping
serve rhetorical, not analytical purposes. The and maintaining modero societies in countless
substancial point of contention is the particular ways. This has been evident not least within
forms in which the regulation of technologically science and technology during the twentieth
mediated cornmunication will take place -from century (for an overview see Biagioli 1999).
nacional laws affecting film production to the In a structural sense, then, basic research basic and
internacional assignment of Internet domain also eventually comes to be~. Compared, applied
."
names. Also in the future, the questlons that however, to a wldespread rnneteenth-century researc h
media researchers will be asked to study and notion of sciences as means of both material
comment on involve conflicts and compromises and cultural progress, much twentieth-century
regarding who will benefit most from the de research found itself struggling to come to
(acto positive definition of social freedom. terms with its sense of a mission. The complic-
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8. ~
280 Social origins and uses of research
RESOURCE BOX 16.1 HISTORIES MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION
OF RESEARCH
AS A FIELD
ayer the past decade,more historical accounts of the development of media studies have begun )
to appear.Presumably, this follows, in part, from the fact that media and communication research
is now an established institution in society and a relatively mature field of inquiry. The second
generation of researchers, now occupying university chairs, mar also perceive a need to revisit
and reassesstheir roots, partir in response to convergence.
At one level, the development of the field is the outcome of interventions from the social sci-
ences and the humanities,as traced in Chapters 2 and 3, in response to the central raje of media
in modem societies. At a more specific level, different national cultures -in universities, in poli-
tics, and in the media themselves-have produced a range of forms in which research and teach-
ing are organized.The references in Box 11.1 cover some of these aspects.
Given its longer history as well as its centrality and resources generally,the North American
research community has produced some of the more elaborate historical accounts (e.g.,Oelia
1987).At the same time, different accounts of the U.S. experience bear witness to quite different
conceptions of both historiography and politics. As such, they are instructive, not only regarding
controversial issues within U.S. research, but also for the writing of histories of the field else-
where. The following references are indicative, both of relatively more administrative or critical
perspectives,and of their different sources in the history of ideas:
.Hardt 1992 -a monograph with review and discussion,emphasizingcritical and interpretive
aspects of U.S. communication studies,and linking these to pragmatismand the wider
intellectual history of the U.S.A.
.Oennis and Wartella 1996-an edited collection with contributions from several of the
central figures of U.S. research,including accounts of its roots in Europe and in Chicago
School sociology.In a review, Hardt (1999) found that this 'remembered history' by key
individuals served more as a professional position statement than as an analytical
historiography,implying that it mar be aWhig history written from the still largely
functionalist perspective of the victors.
.Schramm 1997 -a retrospective account by the researcher who is normally considered to
be the central figure in institutionalizing communication studies in the U.S.A.,supplemented
with perspectives supporting this conclusion, by StevenM. Chaffee and Everett M. Rogers.
Hardt (1999), in his turn, argued that 'Wilbur Schramm had failed to forge a discipline,' and
that instead'mass communication research was legitimated intellectually by the centrality of
communication in social theory and cultural studies' (p. 239).
Importantly, these interests are different in kind kinds of media research, and to clarify issues of
from, albeit related to, researchers' personal knowledge and power which have come to the
convictions and questions of how research is tole in recent decades.
funded or situated institutionally. The category The concept was formulated as such by
of knowledge interests provides a framework Habermas (1971 [1968]), who distinguished
for examining the relationship between social three types of knowledge interest. Each is asso-
ends and scientific means in a more nuanced ciated with the characteristic subject matters
fashion than is often the case, for example, in and social functions of three faculties of study:
accounts simply contrasting commercial and
academic research. Knowledge interests begin 1 Control through prediction. In the case of
to address the relative autonomy of different natural sciences, a central purpose of inquiry is
I

9. Media research as a' social institution 281
to be able to plan future activities in the material living conditions that are not oftheir own mak-
world, in detail and with confidenceoPredictions ing. (Media example: Participatory models of
and hypotheses make for human intervention communication.)
into nature under controlled circumstances.
By developing and accumulating criteria for These three forms of knowledge interest
anticipating physical, chemical, and biological must be understood as ideal types that are sub-
phenomena and processes,the modero sciences ject to variation and combination in scientific
have mastered the natural environment to an practice. However, Habermas (1971 [1968])
unprecedented degreeoThis has facilitated the further argued that the different methodological
human management of resources, time, and and theoretical requirements do not transfer
space as well as extensive social planning, well from one domain of research to another.
notably in agriculture and industrial production. In particular, he concluded that the emancipa-
(Media example: Quantitative surveys predict- tory potential of social sciencestends to be lost
ing the preferences of audienceso) if one imports, and gives priority to, the 'techni-
2 C ontemplatlve und erstandmg. I n t he h uman-
" ' cal' knowledge interest of the natural sciences.
Th ' f '1' f d'
o ..e argument IS ami lar rom some me la
Itles, scholarshlP has revolved around cultural h h. h h d . d d.
f f . h. h
orms o expresslon w IC are su jecte to
b. d researc WIC
.,
as eplcte au lence surveys
..
l ... hr h .and televlslon meters as (quantltatlve) means of
contemp atlon -mterpretatlon t oug mtro-
.
spectlon.
A h . k f,
est etlc wor s, or one, cou
Id b
e
cuItura I contro I (e.g., An g 1991).
I .. h o
.t ISImportant to emp aslze t h at t he eI ement
understood as ends m themselves that should
...o ..
f crItique does not fo II ow f rom t he po l ItlcaI -
.o
H'
beI analyzed . for thelr mherent meamng and.
I f, h
va ue. Istonca events, or anot er, mlg t ear
h b . Ideologlcal attltude of the Individual researcher.
Wh ' 1 . h ..
.o I e a commltment to t e emanclpatlon
wltness to unIversal, even eternal aspects of the f ' fi ' ..
o .., .o specI c socloeconomlc groups WI11b e t he
human condltlon, even If the rehglous overtones
f l . h d II b d
. I l .. h d" .
typlca persona motlvatlon, t e Istmctlve f ea-
o contemp atlon ave gra ua y een own- .., .
1 d B d ... h . ( )0 tures of cntlcal research are found m Its prac-
p aye. y Issemmatmg t elr re mterpreta- ... l . d . h ...
. f 1
tlons o cu ture an
d h.. d
Istory to a WI er pu IC
bl ' tices, Its eplstemo ogles, an m t e mstltutlons
,. .
o .' ensurmg ItS relevance to the rest of SOCletyo
humamstlc scholars carne to serve, not least, as A .,
.o o competent CrIticaI stud y, tus, a dheres sys-
h
the professlonal keepers of cultural tradltlono . II . I h d I .
.o ..tematlca y to partlcu ar met o o oglcaI and
(MedIa example: Quahtatlve textual studles ex- h . I h h I'
00 ...t eorenca approaces t at are ley I to have
k
plormg media representanons of social reahty.) .. I C" I h.
an emanclpatory potenna o finca researc IS
3 Emancipation through critique. If the natllral also concerned with rese~rchable, rather than
sciences procured the material and collective merely debatable or normative issues.
bases of modero society, whereas the humanities
addressed the individual's life experiences, the
, o .ec S t ors o f researc h
social sclences were called upon to examIne
material as well as experiential, collective as well The different intellectual currents which mar be
as individual conditions of sociallifeo While this summed up, for convenience, as knowledge
ambiguous status is in evidence in the two para- interests are found to varying degrees in the
digms of media research,~ Habermas suggested social institutions and sectors that perform or
that social-scientific inquiry does have a distinc- reir on media research. From the early begin-
tive knowledge interest, at least potentially, nings of the field, an awareness of the different
namely emancipation. By performing a critique purposes of research has been reflected in its
of the prevailing forms of social organization, terminology. The classic distinction was intro-
and by clarifying alternatives, the social sciences duced by Lazarsfeld (1941):
can promote the emancipation of humans from
.Administrative research refers to the kind of
..two paradigms mediaresearch
oí -Chapter 15, goal-oriented and instrumental studies which
p. 255 resolve specific issues, typically for the purpose

10. ~
282 Social originsand uses of research
of planning somemedia production or activity. mental interests might narrow the theoretical
Studiesin this vein 'solve little problems, gen-scope of projects, curtail their later uses,and,
erally of a businesscharacter'(p. 8). in the long term, undermine the intellectual
.Critica! researchaddresses wider soci-
the freedomof researchers choosetheir research
to
etal, cultural, and historical issuesof mediatedquestions and methods.Readersof the last.sen-
communication, often in a reception perspec- tence of Lazarsfeld's article mar have felt con-
tive, from which 'the public interest' mar be firmed that critical research was being assigned
assessed. Here, studiestake up 'the generalrole the role of generating bright ideas to be
of our media of communicationin the present exploited (financially and ideologically)in the
social system'(p. 9). administrative mainstream of research:'there
is here a type of approach which, if it were
When Lazarsfeld (1941) describedthe critical included in the generalstream of communica-
variety of research, did so, inpart, underthe tions research,
he could contribute much in terms
infIuence of the 'first generation' of Frankfurt of challenging problems and new concepts
theFrankfurt
School scholars who had fIed Nazi Germany useful in the interpretation of known, and in
School the U.S.A. While highly suspiciousof the the searchfor new,data' (Lazarsfeld1941: 16).
for
'culture industry' (Adorno and Horkheimer On closer examination, the t.wo varieties
1977 [1944]) they encountered there, their exhibit similarities as well as differences,and
responsewent beyond a normative rejection. have combined in various researchtraditions
One of the points that theyintroducedto media and organizations.Both reir on qualitative as
studies was an analytical, Kantian notion of well as quantitative methodologies.(The mar-
critique that seeksto explicate the conditions ginalizing of qualitative studiesas preliminary
of belief, which are themselves one of the con- pilots, perhapssurprisingly,seems more preva-
ditions of the social status quo (Hammersley lent in academiccontexts.)In both cases, more-
1995: 30). By reflecting on the media as they over, projects mar be reactive or proactive, reactive and
now exist, and by uncoveringalternatives,crit- evaluating what already is, or shaping what is proacti~e
ical studies outline what might be. In this not retoCritical projectscanbe the most instru- researc
regard, Lazarsfeld recognized the creative, mental of all, since they design researchques-
theoreticalpotential of critical research. Haber- tions and methods, for example, to expose
mas,who is normally seenas the main repre- inequalities in the availability of communica-
sentativeof a 'secondgeneration'of the Frank- tion resources,or to develop such resources.
furt School,in bis turn specified critique as one Recently, researcherswithin cultural studies
of severalknowledgeinterests. haveadvocated more focusedsocialusesof this
When making the distinction bet.ween criti- tradition in policy contexts (Bennett1992),and
cal and administrative research, Lazarsfeld a greaterreliance on quantitative evidenceas
(1941) found that the t.wo types, largely syn- well (Lewis 1997).
onymous in bis description with basic and .In all cases,researchprojectsand their find-
applied research, could and should cross-fertil- ings should be assessed with somereferenceto
ize. His own accomplishments, centeredin the their socialinfrastructure-their funding, organ-
Bureauof Applied SocialResearch Columbia
at ization, time trames, and anticipated uses -
University,seemed suggest mucho addi-
to as In over and above their theoretical models and
tion to early 'milestones'in media research, he methodological approaches. This infrastructure
and bis collaborators pioneeredseveralgeneral conditions the reflexivity which researchers
approaches, from the panelmethodto focused mar exercise on behalf of themselves,their
interviewing. Many critical researchers, how- colleaguesor clients, particular sociopolitical
ever,including Europeanexpatriateswho, like constituencies, the public at large. Despite
or
Theodor Adorno, found a temporary borne in national and cultural variations, it is possible
Bureauprojects,were highly unsympatheticto to identify certain main types of media research
the implications of administrative research institutions, as displayedin Figure 16.1.
(Delia 1987: 52). Commercialandother instru- A centraldivide separates private enterprise~

11. Media research as a social institution 283
Commercial University Independent Documentation
".". company department research institute center
Funding
,.". Income from Public funding Commercial income Commercial income
clients and/or public and/or public
funding funding
Organization of Management Autonomous Board of trustees Board of trustees
research activity hierarchy researchers and management and management
within hierarchy hierarchy
collegial
government
Time trames Days to years Years to decades Days to decades Years to centuries
Anticipated uses Strategic Description Descriptive as well Description and
of results planning and and critique of as proactive documentation of
product past and analyses media contents
development present media and uses
forms
Examples Marketing Media studies Research bureaus Archives with
sections; departments; and ad hoc centers; proprietary and/or
Advertising Schools of Thinktanks public (museum)
agencies; communication access
Consultancies
Figure 16.1 Types of media research organization
and public service, also in the world of research. 'state' and 'market' and attracting clients from
This is suggested by the first two types -uni- both sides of the divide. The fourth type -doc-
versity departments and cornmercial companies. umentation centers -has more commonly been
Although reliable measures of the relative size associated with historical, arts, and other
of each of these main sectors are difficult to cal- humanistic archives than with empirical re-
culate, it is safe to say that commercial projects search on contemporary culture and society
outdistance academic ones in terms of both (although some film institutes have filled this
financial resources and the number of single role). At present, such entities are gaining impor-
studies. Any simple divide between public and tance, both as a strategic resource in media pro-
private research, however, is complicated by the duction and planning, and as support for the
fact that university departments, in many coun- affiliated research activities. ~
tries, increasingly depend on cornmercial spon- (It is worth adding that public service broad-
sorship to fund their research. Furthermore, casting and public domain research represent
commercial research is frequently subcon- comparable conceptions of the social organiza-
tracted outside the media organization in ques- tion and dissemination of knowledge. In both
tion, sometimes to academic institutions. The cases, knowledge is understood as a 'public
research entities of public service media occupy good' (Samuelson 1954), in relative autonomy
an additional middle ground. from market forces. In the case of broadcasting,
The third type -independent research it is this understanding that has beenchallenged
institutes -has been a staple feature of media
research since Lazarsfeld's Bureau, avoiding
some of the negative connotations of both ..museums archives mediaresearch 285
and for -p.
,,~ j

12. ---
284 Socia! origins and uses of research
under the heading of deregulation (see, e.g., house as well as cornmissioned research to
Blumler and Gurevitch 1995; Garnham and support their business. Studies address not only organizational
Locksley 1991).) audiences, but also the internal development of co~muni-
catlon
In the end, it is the different time trames content and the strategic placement of the
which, most of all, distinguish the social roles of organization in relation to competitors, regula-
each type of research organization. Whereas tors, and the general public (e.g., Grunig 1992).
commercial projects typically are scheduled
' ,
2 Pu blIC pJannmg. c ampare d to t he specIfi c
' , ' '
for short-term Instrumental purposes, acadeffilc f d' b '
po ICles o me la USlnesses, blIC po 1 de-
1, '
' " pu ' ,
ICY
studies mar suggest a course of actlon In the
,
1 , h 1f k '
Ineates t e genera ramewor In w IC me la
h h d' .
(very) long termo If research ISdefined surnmar- A ' 1 f ' fl f or med la '
" operate. typlca arena o In uence
ily as the representatlon of reahty for a purpose, hers has b een commlsslon wor k 1 dIng state
' , '
, , researc ea
the practlcal queStlon becomes when, where, and , d ' , . h' h 1" 1 commissions
h h ' , d Sh d 1 Into ecIslons Wlt In t e po Itlca system, as
ow t IS purpose IS enacte. ort- an ong" , d b '
' sometlmes supporte y specla11 f und ed
y
term purposes mar also be expressed In terms of dles. T exempl1fy most E uropean countnes
' ' , '
, , ,, stu 10
elther pohcy or pohtlcal uses of research. d '
unng t
he 1980s and 1990 s wltnessed a great .
deal of commission work and research regard-
POllTICS VERSUS POllCY ing satellite and cable technologies and their
implications for public service broadcasting.
Policy contexts , ,
3 Non-governmental orgamzatlons. Beyond
Policies are codified plans of action. The impor- and between the business and state contexts,
tance of policy in both public administration citizens' groups, thinktanks, and other organi-
and commercial companies is one structural zations regularly develop or advocate particu-
consequence of increased complexity, internally lar media policies. They do so with a view not
in modero organizations as well as in the only to legislative frameworks, but also to the
larger social contexto Collective and coordi- role of media, for example, in the educational
nated action requires deliberation and plan- system. In addition to commissioning research,
ning, and, because of their scale and cost, the these organizations serve as audiences for polit-
resulting policies further call for evaluation and ically motivated and socially concerned media
adjustment. Both the nature of the deliberations studies.
and the criteria of evaluation follow largely
from predefined organizational goals. Accord- It is not by coincidence that the three policy
ingly, policy research is focused within existing contexts correspond to elements in the domi-
institutions, and on agendas ser by those insti- nant model of contemporary society, as laid out
tutions. The arca has beengrowing since 1945, in Figure 1.3 -the spheres of private businesses,
one key figure being the communication state agencies, and civil society. It is by engag-
scholar, Harold D. Lasswell (e.g., Lerner and ing these institutions that research can address
evaluationLasswell 1951). The expanding sector of eval- the structural conditions of meaning produc-
researchuation research mar be understood as one sub- tion. It is in these main contexts, for better or
variety of policy studies in this broad sense worse, that the future of mediated communi-
(e.g., Partan 1990). carian is being shaped most concretely.
From its inception, media research has con-
tributed to planning and evaluating the media's P lt ..
01 Ica I processes
performance. Because these uses are relatively
familiar, they can be described more briefly A second ser of approaches to applying media
than the following types. At least three policy research socially bracket present institutional
contexts can be identified: agendas and look to the future. Compared to the
delimited contexts of policy, these approaches
1 Business administration. Within private shift the emphasis toward less well-defined,
enterprise, practically all media employ in- but potentially more far-reaching processes of
i

13. Politics versus policy 285
change. (As in the case of policy contexts, both self-reflexivity of media, as they address issues
qualitative and quantitative methodologies are such as political 'spin doctors' or lifestyle
of relevance for such political processes.) advertising. In a case such as the public jour- public
By insisting on the autonomy of the research nalism movement in the U.S.A., a more ambi- journalism
institution, and by resisting a hegemony of tious aim has been for research to support a
other institutionallogics, much academic work reinvigoration of both the press and political
mar be said to adopt a long-term strategy of participation (for an overview and references
interchange with other social institutions. In see Haas 1999).
some cases, the strategy entails the countering. o .
f ofi lo o oh I o l oo I .MedIa educatlon. Beyond thelr own gradu-
o specI c po Icles Wlt a ternatlve po Itlca
o o F I do d .ate and undergraduate students, media and
vlewpomts. or examp e, me la stu les mar o o o
h h" dd k I d do commumcatlon researchers have contnbuted to
expose t e I en or unac now e ge mterests .o .o o
f oh oI lo o I the democratlzatlon (or relatlvlzatlon) of the
o elt er commercla or government po Icles. n
ho d d " d" d o cultural standards and 'texts' of curricula at
t IS regar, aca emlc me la an commumca- "
o h f h 1 " most educatlonal levels. In addition, the field
tlon researc ers carry on aspects o t e c aSSlC, .
" I I oo I I f h o 11 0 o (M h " has been successful, m a number of countries,
crItica ro e crItIca ro e o t e mte Igentsla ann elm" o , o 'o
, , of t~e 1976 [1922]: 136-146). I~ argumgo the need for a component of medIa medIa Ilteracy
,ntell,gentsla C (1991) h o
d o d
fi " 11 I hteracy' m general education (Masterman
orner as I entl e two mte ectua o o o o
o o d" h " o II 1985; Messans 1994; Potter 1998). Thls IS m
proJects m recent me la researc , orIgIna y o
oh " . I o b "h I I splte of the fact that the exact purpose and
Wlt m receptlon ana YSIS, ut Wlt equa re e- o.
f h f d O h placement of medIa educatlon (as a separate
vance or ot er afeas o stu y. n t e one "
h d h fi Id h h b o d subJect or within other subjects) remain
an , t e e as suc as een commltte "O"
t E lo h d
o I o h d debated. Wlth the mtrodUCtlon of computer-
o n Ig tenment I ea s concermng t e emo- o" o o.
bl' " b
o Ol O f bl o k 1d h
pu IC cratlc accessl I Ity o pu IC now e ge t roug
h supported learnmg, a redefimtlon of (medIa) ht-
o o 1 0
kno led e vanous f actual genres. From propaganda re-
wog " eracy IS agam IkeI Y to occur.
proJect
search to decoding studies of news, an import- .Museums and archives. As suggested in
ant research question has been how well Figure 16.1, documentation centers constitute
audiences are able to process mediated infor- an increasingly strategic resource for media
mation, and to employ it in the political process. production as well as research. AIso from polit-
On the other hand, the last couple of decades in ical and public perspectives, the preservation
particular have witnessed both textual and and documentation of contemporary media
audience research rehabilitating the value and pose important issues (Jensen 1993b). The
popular relevance of popular culture, especially fiction point is not only to enable future scholars to
culture genres. ( ) o d o ho
o re wnte me la Istory, or to assesscontempo-
proJect
Compared to the policy contexts of rary research models and findings. Only if the
research, its wider political arenas of influence breadth and depth of media, including their
are centered around the public sphere as a everyday uses and audience experiences, remain
forum of social reflexivity and intervention. In available and documented -alongside the high
addition, the interventions of media research cultural forms that still reign supreme in
address related institutions within, for instance, museums and archives (and among employed
education and politics: archivists) -will coming generations have the
possibility of assessingand learning from their
.Public debate. Most generally and uncon- past, our presento The Payne Fund (Jowett et
troversially, media research contributes to (and al. 1996) and Mass Observation (Richards and
occasionally initiates) debates in the public Sheridan 1987) studies of the 1930s provided
sphere, its political as well as cultural compo- indications of the kinds of evidence needed. The
nents (Figure 1.3). The contributions range challenge has been taken up in at least some
from popular publications at the conclusion of recent work (e.g., Day-Lewis 1989; Gauntlett
a project to syndicated commentaries. In the and HiII1999).
process, researchers mar promote the general