Chapter 10: The communicator: a media-
sociological perspective on media
organizations, gatekeepers and professionals
1. A media-sociological perspective on the communicator
Media sociology explores the broad relationship between media, culture, and society. One of the sub-
domains of media sociology focuses more specifically on the different actors in this complex network,
devoting attention to the relationship between media and human interactions (particularly the attitudes
of the individual media and human interactions), organizational structures, organizational cultures, and
professional roles. What role do media play in public life and in the public domain?
1.1 Media systems
One of the higher and unavoidably more abstract levels of analysis in the study of the communicator is
the media system. The media system is an actual set of mass media in a given national society,
despite the fact that there may be no formal connection between the elements. A media system is
therefore a collective entity or a coherent system of different smaller elements. Because of
globalization the differences between national media systems are now disappearing.
The Mediterranean media system (polarized pluralist model) contains the southern European
countries: France, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Portugal. The press is focused on political elite and
newspapers are often used by the government, political parties and industrial groups as instruments to
express their ideas. Political parallelism is a term that is used to describe the extent to which the
media system displays similarities with the political system of a country. This media system has a high
degree of political parallelism.
The North Atlantic media system (liberal model) contains the Anglo-Saxon countries: the US, the UK,
and Canada. The model is characterized by the rapid development of a commercial mass press in the
early 20th century, which still dominates today. There is hardly any political parallelism and internal
pluralism is strong, with the important exception of certain sections of the British party political press.
There is a high degree of journalistic professionalization. The role of the government is generally
limited, although this varies from country to country.
The North and Central European model (democratic corporatist model) contains Belgium, the
Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries. This media system is
characterized by a high degree of readership. The principle of press freedom quickly became the
central pillar in this system. The government also plays a key part in media regulation, which finds
expression in state support measures.
1.2 Media institutions and media organizations
A media organization refers to a specific organization that carries out concrete media activities. It is
becoming increasingly difficult to use the term meaningfully, because its underlying assumption of a
‘single ideal-typical form’ is no longer consistent with present-day reality and its huge diversity of
organizational forms and practices.
Media institutions refer to the institutional dimension or the framework within which media
organizations carry out their concrete media activities. The vision of media as social institutions is
therefore situated at the same analysis level as media systems. Media as an institution are on the
same level as politics and economics, as sectors or institutions of a society. Communication scientists
speak of media as being ‘the fourth estate’, referring to their function as ‘independent watchdogs, a
social institution charged with making certain that all other institutions serve the public’.
The specific relationship and interactions between media and economic, political, and technological
activity play a fundamental role in determining the socio-cultural implications of media.
Americanization is the phenomenon in which the purported influence the US has on the culture of
sociological perspective on media
organizations, gatekeepers and professionals
1. A media-sociological perspective on the communicator
Media sociology explores the broad relationship between media, culture, and society. One of the sub-
domains of media sociology focuses more specifically on the different actors in this complex network,
devoting attention to the relationship between media and human interactions (particularly the attitudes
of the individual media and human interactions), organizational structures, organizational cultures, and
professional roles. What role do media play in public life and in the public domain?
1.1 Media systems
One of the higher and unavoidably more abstract levels of analysis in the study of the communicator is
the media system. The media system is an actual set of mass media in a given national society,
despite the fact that there may be no formal connection between the elements. A media system is
therefore a collective entity or a coherent system of different smaller elements. Because of
globalization the differences between national media systems are now disappearing.
The Mediterranean media system (polarized pluralist model) contains the southern European
countries: France, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Portugal. The press is focused on political elite and
newspapers are often used by the government, political parties and industrial groups as instruments to
express their ideas. Political parallelism is a term that is used to describe the extent to which the
media system displays similarities with the political system of a country. This media system has a high
degree of political parallelism.
The North Atlantic media system (liberal model) contains the Anglo-Saxon countries: the US, the UK,
and Canada. The model is characterized by the rapid development of a commercial mass press in the
early 20th century, which still dominates today. There is hardly any political parallelism and internal
pluralism is strong, with the important exception of certain sections of the British party political press.
There is a high degree of journalistic professionalization. The role of the government is generally
limited, although this varies from country to country.
The North and Central European model (democratic corporatist model) contains Belgium, the
Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian countries. This media system is
characterized by a high degree of readership. The principle of press freedom quickly became the
central pillar in this system. The government also plays a key part in media regulation, which finds
expression in state support measures.
1.2 Media institutions and media organizations
A media organization refers to a specific organization that carries out concrete media activities. It is
becoming increasingly difficult to use the term meaningfully, because its underlying assumption of a
‘single ideal-typical form’ is no longer consistent with present-day reality and its huge diversity of
organizational forms and practices.
Media institutions refer to the institutional dimension or the framework within which media
organizations carry out their concrete media activities. The vision of media as social institutions is
therefore situated at the same analysis level as media systems. Media as an institution are on the
same level as politics and economics, as sectors or institutions of a society. Communication scientists
speak of media as being ‘the fourth estate’, referring to their function as ‘independent watchdogs, a
social institution charged with making certain that all other institutions serve the public’.
The specific relationship and interactions between media and economic, political, and technological
activity play a fundamental role in determining the socio-cultural implications of media.
Americanization is the phenomenon in which the purported influence the US has on the culture of
