In 1947, the Commission on Freedom of the Press published their report.
And the commission also had a different name,
The Hutchins Commission, after his Chairman,
Robert Hutchins, a well-respected scholar,
and the president of the University of Chicago.
Hutchins selected 11 respected scholars and professionals.
And with them, debated the issue of media governance,
the Fourth Estate model,
and what it meant for the Freedom of the Press and the media system in general.
In 1947, the Commission on Freedom of the Press published a landmark report,
a free and responsible press.
And you will realize that the atrocities of the Holocaust had just been revealed,
and the public's opinion of the media landscape and the press in
particular was quite negative and suspicious.
They become clear for the general audience how widespread the lies and
propaganda spread by the mainstream media had been in many countries,
and many turned a critical eye even towards their own countries journalists,
movie makers, and publishers.
The report advocated a different view on the Fourth Estate model,
and criticized the complete freedom that media organizations had enjoyed.
The introduction of reports stated,
the commission set out to answer the question,
is the Freedom of the Press in danger?
And its answer to the question is yes.
It concludes that the freedom of the press is in danger for three reasons: First,
the importance of the press to the people has
greatly increased with the development of
the press as an instrument of mass communication,
and at the same time,
the development of the press as an instrument of mass communication has greatly decreased
the proportion of the people who can express their opinions and ideas to the press;
Secondly, the few who are able to use
the machinery of the press as an instrument of mass communication,
have not provided a service adequate to the needs of society;
And third, those who direct the machinery of the press,
have engaged from time to time and practices which this society condemns,
and which if continued it will inevitably undertake to regulate or control.
So the report agrees with the premise of the Fourth Estate ideal,
that the media could serve as a much needed check on
powerful politicians, governments, and companies.
However, Hutchins and his colleague stressed that
the guiding principle freedom did not guarantee this outcome.
In fact, many examples had shown that this freedom had
let media professionals to misuse their power themselves.
And therefore, the commission proposed
a new guiding principle, responsibility to society.
And this social responsibility models that would be known,
will become the dominant ethical guideline for media governance in the world.
The model was a great leap from the old free media model.
It allowed for government interference,
but preferred a professional system of code of
ethics and commissions of peers to judge over ethical matters.
And although, this model received much criticism at
first from within the media system itself,
it quickly became the dominant model of media governance in many countries.
And the model itself evolved as more and more scholars,
professionals, and politicians started working with it.