ABSTRACT
Media scholars divide different countries' "styles" or "philosophies" of mass media systems into various categories. One classic fourfold study divided media into what were called the authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility, and Soviet Communist theories of the press. A more accurate term, however, would be to call them approaches because they were presented as descriptions rather than actual theories. During a 1986 conference on the of South African liberalism, Lawrence Schlemmer correctly noted that: if South African liberals are to promote the processes which will yield a democratic outcome, they will need a more indigenous social theory of liberalism than they have had so far. Edmund Lambeth identified several dimensions of truth. One is the need for journalism to stress factual accuracy. Another is for a journalist to dig behind the facts to understand their context. "At the day-to-day operating level," Lambeth wrote, "the principle of justice is reflected in the journalist's concern for fairness.".
