ABSTRACT
Who governs and controls the media? Whose interests do they serve? What resources do they use? What is the nature of their products? What needs are being met and what are not met? These are just some of the general questions that should be central within any program of communication research. … In short, we need the knowledge that only research can provide before we can develop adequate communication policies. Ideally, such policies should be based on “total” knowledge (i.e., on the operation of the media in the wider social-economic-political setting), and on “public” needs rather than on “partial” knowledge and “private” needs as is so often the case at present. (proposal for an International Program of Communication Research, Paris, 1971)
