"Social responsibility" represents an ethical responsibility that an entity or individual has towards the society. It can be negative where there is a responsibility to refrain from acting or positive where there is a responsibility to act.
Social responsibility theory refers to the expectations of the media (press) by the society. In other words how the society expects the media to perform in dispathching its duties. The media can perform in a free environment but must bear in mind the responsibility it owes to the society.
The libertarian theory arose in opposition to the authoritarian theory - an idea that placed all forms of comunication under the control of a governing elite or authority (Siebert, Peterson and Shram, 1956).
Under this theory, there is freedom of the press to the extent that no government, community or group can infringe upon the rights of the press.
A similarity can be drawn between the social reponsibility and the libertarian theories. This is that, both theories allocate some amount of freedom to the press. Thus they both have an amount of freedom in terms of expression of views.
A vast difference can also be drawn between the two theories. In the social responsibility theory, the press can remain fully free but this freedom can sometimes be controlled by the government. The media though free, is governed by some standard codes and ethics of its profession and has also got an obligation to fulfil in the society. With the libertarian theory, the media has no rules guiding its profession and is therefore has total freedom in the expression of its views and expression.
Under both theories, the media is privately owned but under the social responsibility, there is a level of governmental influence.
The media censors the type of information it presents to the public making sure it fosters national development under the social responsibility theory. Contrary to this, the libertaian thoery does not regard information censorship.
Sources:
*STANLEY J. BARAN & DENNIS K. DAVIES ( Mass communication Theory)
*WIKIPEDIA
