Some Aspects of the Daily Newspaper as a Social Institution, with Special Reference to New Zealand Conditions

Abstract

The daily newspaper is but one corner of the wide field covered by the written word, one aspect of the impact of documented language on social relations. On six days of each week, year by year, the forty-three daily newspapers of New Zealand put in the hands of their 630,000 subscribers a total of 7,500,000 pages of newsprint containing 56,000,000 columns (1,300,000,000 single-column inches). Of this space, about 56 per cent is advertising material, and 44 per cent non-advertising. In this 44 per cent the New Zealand newspapers give to their readers each day 20,200,000,000 words, or 11,500 words per day for every man, woman and child in the Dominion. It is with the field of social relations surrounding this enormous daily output of words that the monograph is to deal. There will at the outset be traced the historical-sociological development of newspapers generally. Answers will then be sought to such questions as: What aspects of the newspapers are most sought after by readers? Do the papers mould or are they moulded by public opinion? Do they merely serve readers' wishes or do they aim to influence the thoughts, concepts or moral standards of the community? Do they serve purely commercial ends, or have they definite purposes of a cultural nature associated with the welfare of the community? Is it possible to judge from its newspapers the standard of culture and intelligence of a community? A consideration of these and similar points will lead to a discussion on the principle of Press liberty now proving so controversial in England, the United States, New Zealand and elsewhere. The monograph, as a whole, does not fall into any one of the recognised categories of social studies, but touches on a number of these categories. The first part is a historical-sociological review for background purposes. The second, a study of Press-public interreactions, is social-psychological in character. The third section deals with a particular application of the broad principle of liberty, and so falls into the sphere of institutional ethics. Taken together, however, the three main parts of the monograph come within the scope of social psychology, if by this is meant a study of the interrelations of man and society. The monograph follows two main themes which may be stated in the form of questions: What are some of the more important factors associated with the daily Press as a social institution? and, What are the implications for the Press and its public of the present controversy over Press "freedom"?