Communist Theory of Mass

Communication
The communist theory of mass media came into being along with
the concept of communism. George W. F. Hegel and later, Karl
Marx with Engels were the people who thought of the theory in the
19th century. Mass media in the view of Karl Marx was supposed
to be responsible for socialist system of governance and
communist media was supposed to help in implementing social
policies. The communist and Marxist government rule and
communist theory of mass communication was practically used by the
then Soviet Union (Russia) in 1917. Thus, the theory is also
known as Soviet Theory of Mass Communication. The government
controlled all the media according to this theory and had absolute
power. The theory was implemented to help in achieving the
communist objectives for the benefits of the people.
Concepts of Communist Theory of
Mass Communication
Media is taken as a part of the state in Communist Theory. The
ownership of media is with the state and the country runs the
media as per their wishes to fulfill their propaganda of control.
The communist party owns all the media of the country. Media is
supposed to work for the betterment of the state, communism
and whatever the elite of the communist party tells them to do.
Deterring the growth of communism is taken as a crime.
Criticism of small parts of the government work is accepted but
criticizing the state as a whole is prohibited in communist theory
of mass media. Citizens are taken to be irrational and stupid and
masses are kept away from the government. They are just
provided with propaganda and basic knowledge. Government
activities are not to be known to general public. Whatever rulers
said becomes the ruling idea.

The difference between Authoritarian theory and the communist

theory is that in authoritarian, there is private ownership of
media but in soviet communist theory, the control lies in very
small number of leaders in soviet communist theory. Government
is taken as the most superior, powerful and important than all
including media.

In Soviet Union, media was used to educate the workers to their

develop skills and tried to show the problems of the working class
to the leaders by taking feedbacks from the citizens. New
technologies of mass media were controlled to control the mass.
The theory took other theories of mass media as having
bourgeois features where they followed Marxist, Leninist and
Stalinist ideologies.

Features of Communist Theory of

Mass Communication
 Media followed communist ideology of governance and political
system
 Media was used to transmit propaganda and for transmission
of social policies

 Media was taken as government instrument

 Media was owned by the state

 Criticism of communist ideology was taken as a crime

 It helped the working class to work better and highlighting
their problems and it made people aware about communism
 The theory was a positive one as it tried to ensure truthful
information and not let the information get manipulated
by private media houses
 Feedback was accepted

Example of Communist Theory of

Mass Communication
The then Soviet Union controlled the media totally by publishing
all the good things about their country and governance while not
showing anything that could make the people feel agitated about
their own nation. They promoted their own culture and traditions
as the best. They also did not give out news about disasters and
accidents.
On the other hand, they showed every bad aspect of culture and social
systems of other democratic countries like US. They also told their
government system was better than democracy. That is how
propaganda was bestowed upon all. These techniques were solely
based on their communist ideologies representing the Communist
Theory in full.

Criticisms of Communist Theory of

Mass Communication
 Propaganda based information is only delivered. The
information might be false.
 No media can criticize the government and the government will
not get the chance to improve.

 Authoritative obstruction can be found for every type of media.

 There can be many restrictions and there is a concept of
punishment.
 Leader is taken as the greatest and citizens are not given
importance.

 The media can not play the role of the watchdog.

 The development of the nation depends on the characteristics
of the leader.
Soviet-Communist Theory
The Soviet-Communist Theory originated from the Soviet Union from
Marxist, Leninist, and Stalinist thoughts after the 17th century. Under the
Soviet-Communist Theory, the state owns or in some way controls all forms
of mass media directly. The media’s authority falls in the hands of a small
group of party leaders. The role of the media in countries applying the
Soviet-Communist Theory is to act as an instrument of the ruling party to
unite people of the state, and to carry out plans of the party and state,
bringing about societal change.
Also under the Soviet-Communist system, the media reports less on the bad
things that happen under communism, and emphasizes the bad things that
happen in democratic areas (David McHam’s Communication Law Center,
undated). For example, when the Russian’s media was still under the Soviet-
Communist system, the official communist paper “Pravda” portrayed the
ideology that “Communist is good” by praising Stalin’s non-aggression pact
with Hitler, and avoided reporting about the Chernobyl disaster as it may
raise concerns about the safety of Soviet nuclear plant. Pravda reported
about the incident only two days later after constant urging from Sweden.
(Tiffany Gabbay, 2012)

Technically, currently, no country’s media is fully under the Soviet-

Communist system. However, certain countries’ media possess
characteristics of a Soviet-Communist media system. One example is the
North Korean media. The North Korean media is very much- if not, entirely,
controlled by the government. For a really long time, there were no
independent journalists in North Korea, radio and television receivers are
locked to government-specified frequencies. The media also covers up on
the negative things that happen under the communist leadership, not
revealing the dangers and hardships North Koreans faced. For example, the
government suppressed news of a famine that affected millions of people
(Committee to Protect Journalists, 2006). However, North Korea has shown
signs of opening-up in recent years, and it’s media is used more to maintain
societal status quo instead of bringing about changes and hence, North
Korean’s media is currently leaning further towards an Authoritarian media
system.

The Authoritarian Theory

Authoritarian theory is developed in the 16th and 17th century in England.
The Authoritarian Theory is operationalized as strict control of content by the
state and a general lack of freedom for the public to criticize state policies
(Jennifer Ostini, undated). Under an Authoritarian media system, ownership
of the media can be either public or private. Ownership of printing medias
are mostly private, while broadcast and cinemas usually remain in the hands
of the government.

The Authoritarian Theory describes the situation where states view the mass
media as an instrument at all ties. The role of the media is to mainly
educate citizens, and acts as a propaganda tool for the ruling party.

The main difference between the Authoritarian theory and the Soviet-
Communist Theory is that while the former allows both private and public
media ownership, the latter allows strictly only public media ownership.
Another difference is that while the Authoritarian medias are mainly use to
maintain societal status quo, a Soviet-Communist media is often used to
bring about societal changes. (Krishnammurthy Sriramesh, undated)

In the past, the Burmese media has been under an Authoritarian system.
Until 2011, the Burmese media has always portrayed itself as supportive of
the country’s previous military junta. News reports gushed over generals,
attacked foreign media, and remain uncritical of it’s military leadership.
Journalists who wrote reports that threatened the ruling party were
imprisoned. Stiff censorship regulations were in place as well, and only
state-controlled newspapers, usually propaganda-filled, are allowed to
publish daily. Privately run news publications published weekly rather than
daily due to Myanmar’s stifling censorship requirements (Committee to
Protect Journalists, 2006). However, recently, with the uprise of democracy
in Myanmar and transition to a civilian government, the burmese media has
been walking away from it’s extreme authoritarian approach, releasing
imprisoned journalists. From June 2011, half of Myanmar’s privately owned
publications were allowed to published without submitting page proofs to
censors in advance. Also, the government will allow private daily newspapers
from April next year (Aung Hla Tun, 2012).

Other countries whose media are practicing the Authoritarian Theory

include: North Korea, China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.