DEFINITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY

Broadly speaking, the term Knowledge Society refers to any society where knowledge is the primary production resource instead of capital and labour. It may also refer to the use a certain society gives to information.

SOURCE: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_society

A knowledge society is one in which knowledge becomes a major creative force.Knowledge societies are not a new occurrence. For example, fishermen have long shared the knowledge of predicting the weather to their community and this knowledge gets added to the social capital of the community.

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

Knowledge Society is a society that creates, shares and uses knowledge for the prosperity and well-being of its people.
SOURCE: www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz

DEFINITIONS OF INFORMATION SOCIETY

• Information society is a term widely used to describe contemporary society in terms of what is thought to be its most central driving force or source of productive power namely information of all kinds.

Source: Denis McQuail, MASS COMMUNICATION THEORY,5th edition.

• Bell Peter Otto and Philipp Sonntag(1985) say that an information society is a society where the majority of employees work in information jobs, that is they have to deal more with information, signals, symbols, and images than with energy and matter.

• Information Society is a society characterised by a high level of information intensity in the everyday life of most citizens, in most organisations and workplaces; by the use of common or compatible technology for a wide range of personal, social, educational and business activities, and by the ability to transmit, receive and exchange digital data rapidly between places irrespective of distance.

Source: IBM Community Development Foundation in a 1997 report, "The Net Result - Report of the National Working Party for Social Inclusion."

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORY AND THE LIBERTARIAN THEORY

Theories generally are ideas or statements that are meant to explain reality.They may include the Social Responsibility Theory and the Libertarian Theory.

The Libertarian theory,when introduced undermined the Authoritarian Theory which operates under purely authoritarian environment.The Libertarian theory hence introduced freedom of the media which is a key factor not present in authoritarianism.Consequently, the media became independent from government control of its operations and also free from censorship.

Social Responsibility Theory is also all about freedom of the media.Here, the media has the freedom to operate but is conscious of the idea of social responsibility.In social responsibility theory,the media ought to do what the public experts from them. It is expected to work to achieve freedom and conformity in society.

It is then obvious that there are certain similarities between these two theories.An evident one is that they stress on freedom of the media.In the Authoritarian Theory, the media do not have that freedom to operate,so it works as a mouthpiece of the government and serves as a propaganda tool for the government.
Subsequently,the Social Responsibility Theory and the Libertarian Theory emphasise on the key factor,that is freedom.

They also stress on the non-interference of government on the media activities.Since the interference of government will consequently lead to authoritarianism hence abusing the freedom of the press.

Also, these two particular theories identify the need for access to wide diversity of information by the public.It is so because the media works only for the interest of the public.

Another key factor of the Social Responsibility Theory and the Libertarian Theory is that they all play the role of watchdogs to check on activities of the government.The media reports to the public and keeps the public informed about the 'going-in' and the 'coming-out' of the the government.Therefore the government also keeps in mind the idea of the watchdog role of the media.

Despite these similarities of the Social Responsibility Theory and the Libertarian Theory,there are also certain differences.

In the Libertarian Theory,the media does not work within any framework of rules.Here the media has the freedom to report on anything not taking into consideration the effects it will have on the public.But in the Social Responsibility Theory,the media works under certain rules such as code of ethics which restricts its operation.

The idea of responsibility in the Social Responsibility Theory imposes a restriction on the media's operations but there is absolute freedom without any sense of responsibility in the Libertarian Theory.

The Libertarian Theory does not provide objective and accurate information from the media but due to the presence of codes of ethics or regulations, the Social Responsibility Theory allows for objectivity and accountability of the media.

Conclusively, it can be deduced that in the Libertarian Theory the media does not operate with professionalism but the Social Responsibility Theory encourages professionalism on media reportage.