McQuail's normative theories翻译

Passage Two McQuail’s Normative Theories We may not hear the clash of battle but we can be sure it is raging; and we may need to be wary of whatever ”peace treaty”emerges from the struggle, for the signatories to it, the beneficiaries, will be corporate, not individual, with the public functioning largely as spectators. This is a timely moment to conduct an overview of contrasting theories of purpose and to examine a number of principles of media performance which may or may not survive into the new Digital Age.

我们也许没有听到战斗的冲突声,但我们可以确信它是激烈的，并且我们需要当心任何在斗争中出现的和平条约，因为签署国对于收益人来说是全体的，而不是个人的，公众很大程度上只是起了旁观者的作用。现在是个恰当的时机来对比较理论的目的进行一个概述，和检验在新的数字时代许多媒介原理能不能存活下来。

All parties to the definition of the functions or purposes of media find little difficulty agreeing that the task of media is to inform, to educate and to entertain. Yet for the student of communication, such a trio of media goals resembles a set of holograms, appearing to have substance and meaning but reaching out to them only locates thin air. Information, yes—but what information; education, yes—but what do we mean by education; entertainment, certainly—but does it s separate classification mean that it cannot also be informative and educational or that information and education cannot be entertaining? Several commentators, best known among them Denis McQuail, have sought to create a more complex taxonomy of purposes as they operate in varying contexts.

在对于媒介功能或目的的定义上，各方所少有争议的就是其具有通知，教育和娱乐的任务。然而对于学习传播学的学生来说，媒介所具有的这三个功能就像是一幅全息投影，看起来好像有实质的内容和意义，但是其实他们并不能真正理解（媒介的三个功能）。是的，媒介提供信息，但是提供什么样的信息；媒介有教育的功能，但是我们在这里所讲的教育是什么样的教育；媒介具有娱乐的功能这是肯定的，但是将媒介的娱乐功能独立分类是否意味着媒介在承担娱乐功能的同时是不能够传达信息和进行教育的，或者说传达信息和进行教育是不能通过娱乐的方式实现的。一些评论家，其中最著名的是麦奎尔，正在试图创造一个更加复杂的关于媒介在不同的情境之下的目的分类系统。

They are referred to as normative theories. By this we mean functions as they should be according to dominant criteria; in some cases an ideal, in others a necessity; and they constitute guidelines to performance. In Mass Communication Theory:An Introduction, McQuail posits six normative theories of media purposes:

⏹Authoritarian theory

⏹Free Press theory

⏹Social Responsibility

⏹Soviet theory

⏹Development theory

⏹Democratic-participant theory

In each case the theory relates the performance of media to the position taken up

by the state towards the transmission of information, comment and expression.

它们被称为规范理论。通过这一点，我们指，在某些理想的状况下，或者在其他必须的情况下，职能应该根据最高标准，并构成标准的表现。在大众传播理论的一个介绍中，麦奎尔提出了六个媒体规范理论的目的：

⏹权威理论

⏹自由新闻理论

⏹社会责任理论

⏹苏联理论

⏹发展理论

⏹民主参与理论

在每种情况下，这些理论都将媒体的行为和政府对信息传播、评论、态度所采取的态度联系起来。

⏹Authoritarian Theory

The authoritarian theory describes a situation where government, in the hands of a tyrant or a ruling elite who exercise repressive power over the people, lays down the law as to what the media can communicate. In this context the media are servants of state, the mouthpiece of government. If they are perceived to fail in that capacity, by showing a degree of editorial independence, they are censored or shut down.

⏹专制理论

专制理论描述了一种情况，就像掌握在能行使压制性力量控制人民的暴君或是统治精英手中的政府制定法律一样，媒介进行传播也是如此。在这种背景下，媒体是国家公务员，政府的喉舌。如果他们意识到通过显示编辑独立性会使得他们在这一职位上失败，那么他们就会被审查或是删除。

…

⏹Free Press theory

On the face of it Free Press theory, sometimes refered to as Libertarian theory, is the exact opposite of authoritarian theory: as first principle is that the free press is servant to none but its readership in its task of informing, educating and entertaining, the press of the western world would place itself in this category, free expression, unchecked by censorship-external or internal-is what media are about. th e ”free” claim fearlessness in the pursuit of truth. they take a pride in being the conscience and watchdog over the rights of the people.

⏹新闻自由理论

从表面上看，新闻自由理论有时称为自由意志主义理论，与专制理论正好相反：它的第一个原则是，新闻自由只能是将通知，教育和娱乐作为任务来服务于读者，西方世界的新闻会置身于这类言论自由。言论自由，通过审查来看清外部或内部的模样。“自由”声称无畏追求真相，他们因为超越看门狗而追求人们的权利和良知感到骄傲.

It is with the Free Press theory-so the theory goes-that error is exposed and the truth arrived at, and in the USA, this principle is duly enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution. This states that “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech of the freedom of speech of the press.”McQuail asks, as perhaps we all must, exactly whose freedom the media are expressing; and how free is free in situations dominated by competition, reliance on