WEBER - Preliminary Report on a Proposed Survey for a Sociology of the Press

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DOI: 10.1177/095269519801100207 1998 11: 111History of the Human Sciences

Max WeberPreliminary report on a proposed survey for a sociology of the press

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Preliminary report on aproposed survey for asociology of the press

MAX WEBER

HISTORY OF THE HUMAN SCIENCES Vol. 11 No. 2@ 1998 SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi)[0952-6951(199805)11:2;111-120; 004773]

The following plan is a provisional outline of the issues to be dealt with bythe proposed press survey, whose details might later be subject to alteration.The general arrangement of the survey outlined here is of course not bindingupon the executive commission responsible for planning and organizing thesurvey - this commission has not yet been formed. This plan seeks only tohighlight as many as possible of those points to which the survey must directitself in one way or another.A survey of the Press must in the last analysis be directed towards the great

cultural problems of the present:I The mode of constitution of the psychic means of suggestion through

which modern society continually strives to assimilate and adapt indi-viduals - the Press as one of the means of moulding the subjective indi-viduality of modern man.

II The conditions created by public opinion, whose most important deter-minant today is the newspaper, for the development, maintenance, under-mining and reforming of artistic, scientific, ethical, religious, political,social and economic cultural components: the Press as a component of theobjective individuality of modern culture.The ultimate aims of the investigation cannot therefore form its immedi-

ate objective. We have instead to begin from the fact that all cultural activityon the part of the press today is bound up with the conditions governing theexistence of private enterprises, and must so remain; I believe that it is the


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newspaper business which has to be at the centre of investigation, its necess-arily given conditions of existence and their consequences for the formationand commercial prospects of the entire range of modern newspapers, whosecompetitive activity can be observed on a daily basis. One thing is certain: thenewspaper business will not in general be inclined to permit investigation ofindividual relationships to this competitive process, or provide exact statis-tical information on the composition of costs and revenue. (One largeconcern has assured me that it will in all likelihood be possible to providecertain relative figures, and these could quite safely also be made available bythe newspapers if the required assurances are given regarding discretion intheir use. Besides examining the accounts of newspaper publishers it will alsobe necessary to gain the co-operation of persons experienced in the news-paper business.) We cannot aim at collecting precise data, but we can hope togather approximate figures, which are all we need so long as the most impor-tant feature of these data can be ascertained: the common relationships amongthese figures and their relationship to corresponding foreign data.

First of all some preliminary questions will need to be answered, whichconcern [(A) the newspaper business and (B) the general character of a news-paper].

(A) The newspaper businessI Newspaper owners, developments over the last few decades for a number

of large newspapers and for a few typical regions. Source: CommercialDirectory. - Influence of the owners, large shareholders, donors on thetendency of the newspaper and the limits to same. For example,specially created guarantees securing the tendency of the newspaperwith respect to their own interest. The purchase of other newspaper titlesfor the purpose of altering their tendency and the reception of suchevents on the part of the readership.

II The amount of capital required and the turnover of capital in the news-paper business according to size and other criteria. Comparison withforeign cases: is this the basis for the difference between the multipleeditions common in Germany and the single daily editions foundabroad? (Such differences exist and are of very considerable importance.)- It would be very useful if it were possible to examine the books of alarge newspaper which had gone out of business. Whether Cotta orB3rklin might place at our disposal the books of the Allgemeine Zeitung,or let us have at least the most important data?

III Approximate current production costs of newspapers. Relative figureswould probably be available for a large newspaper, for the remaining prin-cipal types of newspaper we would have no choice but to rely upon finan-cial reconstructions and estimates provided by experts well versed in the


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business. Here in any case it is not the accuracy of individual numbers thatmatters, but rather the comparison of the relative significance of the indi-vidual items today with respect to earlier prevailing magnitudes, at homeand abroad, between the differing types of newspaper: the most importantthing is to place the greatest emphasis upon the changes that occur, thedevelopmental tendencies. The following have to be taken into account:(a) Paper, printing, distribution, other material costs. In connection withthese: the organization of newspaper delivery and distribution agency incomparison with postal charges; degree of importance of public salesthrough individual sellers and kiosks compared with those through sub-scription, at home and abroad.(b) Need for editors and their costs. Comparison with abroad, differen-tiated according to type of newspaper. Mode of remuneration to corre-spondents, other costs associated with the compilation of material for thecritical section of the paper. Level of fees payable to occasionalcontributors - as far as possible with temporal and geographical com-parisons.(c) The cost of domestic news services in comparison with those abroad.

IV The gathering of material1 From external sources, above all:

(a) News services, the position of the large telegraphic agencies. Commer-cial analysis of Associated Press, Havas, Reuters, Wolff (a study of thislast firm, directed by Prof. Gothein, will shortly appear). Comparison ofthese firms one with another according to their commercial principles,and also according to their relative importance within the news agencybusiness and its development. Reuters and Associated Press would beespecially important, the latter the sole agency still owned by existing(American) newspapers, which therefore is a powerful instrument ofmonopoly on the part of these newspapers. It would be necessary toinvestigate the commercial principles according to which newspaperssubscribe to these agencies, or the (approximate) conditions governingthe subscriptions, the news classifications used for this purpose (e.g. asimportant or sensational), and the changes in these categories. Finally:the tendency towards cartelization.

(b) Analyse and investigate the commercial aspects of those agencies pro-ducing feature sections and supplements. Do the same with all otherroutine products for the press, especially:

(c) reports connected with political parties and other political institutions;once more initially their commercial basis, according to costs, mode ofsupply of material, style of management and political influence. Further,especially:


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(d) access to administrative and official material, the levels at which andforms in which they become available, comparison of the same withabroad.

(e) And finally, to be treated separately: origin, costs, character of commer-cial news. The comparison with abroad - Paris not less than America andLondon - would naturally also determine the degree of independencefrom business influence, and it would be interesting to emphasize bywhat path and for what reasons the present improved degree of pressintegrity (where it in fact exists) has been attained, as against that of thepast.

The influence exercised by commercial conditions on the material content ofthe newspaper can be grouped into the following set of problems, followingon from the preceding points:2 Internal services and the distribution of material

(a) The former and the present role of the leading article, comparison withabroad (America, England, France), developmental tendencies and theircause. Types of news broadsheet in contrast to critical publications, therise of the first by style and degree.

(b) Multiple daily editions of the great newspapers. Commercial reason forthe difference with the practice of publishing a single edition abroad. Theinfluence of this difference on costs and other commercial conditions ofnewspapers. The form in which material is distributed among the severaldaily editions. Separate postal and town editions. Reasons for the advanceof evening papers here in Germany, condition abroad in this regard.

(c) Americanism in the press, in respect of layout, arrangement, the rela-tive importance of individual sections and the organization of headlines.Influence on the character of the newspaper and the way in which thenewspaper is read. Exact analysis of the commercial characteristics ofAmerican newspapers by contrast with that of ours, penetration of thesecharacteristics here, reason for this (or why not)?

(d) The way in which material is distributed among the staff. Means for thepreservation of editorial unity in the newspaper (centralization - its formand degree - or the collegial system, editorial conferences, etc.), the influ-ence of this upon, and connection to, the anonymity of articles. Relationof editorial and journalistic work and recent variations in this relation-ship. The need for attractive names among the workers on a newspaperand the limits to this determined by the interests of the newspaper.

3 Small ads service, means of attracting themReasons for the origin and style of advertising. Analysis of the legal and com-mercial situation of the large agencies specializing in small ads. Emergence,


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risk and effects of advertising credit. Possibilities for the measurement ofadvertising impact. (Amount of knowledge on the part of the newspaper ofits readership: effect of postal secrecy.) Psychological limits to the effect ofsmall advertisements and other forms of promotion on the one hand, of com-mercial advertising on the other, in the latter case according to variety of pur-poses. Development of newspapers specializing in small ads, or thepublication of a small ad edition alongside a political edition. Analysis of thegeneral and local gazette according to technical and economic conditions(espec. also variation in the composition of those contributing announce-ments and advertisements). Degree to which these are on the increase. Com-parisons of the nature of small advertisements at home and abroad (forexample, differences related to the degree in which the publication appears ina single edition, which alters the nature of advertisement quite significantly).Conflicts of interest and the balance of interest between newspapers andadvertising businesses. (Leased or wholly-owned advertising newspapers andtheir position. The creation of advertising marts.) The importance of thematerial dependence of newspapers upon advertising revenue in the determi-nation of newspaper prices and their general character. (Alleged and genuinerisk for the integrity of the newspaper on the one hand; and on the other:facilitation of better-quality news services and other substantive aspects ofthe newspaper.) The relation of advertisement and the actual text of the paper(paid text, covert advertising, forms of the same). Attempts on the part ofadvertisers (major advertisers or, occasionally, commercial associations) toinfluence the editorial part of the newspaper, to gain influence over artistic orother forms of criticism, or to exclude the advertisements of competitors.V Newspaper revenue Trends in the development of the print run and theextent of advertising space (page limits and the charge for advertising spacein comparison with foreign practices, which are sometimes very different).Commercial limits of advertising from the viewpoint of the advertiser andlikely tendencies for its replacement by other advertising media (notices,loose supplements, billboards, their relation to each other, as well asannouncements in newspapers and specialized magazines, more recently:advertising newspapers, the mass production of handwritten advertisingletters, etc.). Taking runs from different years for typical large and a varietyof small newspapers, calculation of (1) the space available in each, (2) thenature of the needs which the small ad serves, so that developmental tenden-cies can be established and at the same time an assessment made of the rela-tive profitability of the individual categories making up announcements inthe newspaper. For special consideration here are: banking notices, simplebusiness and sales adverts, small ads for jobs, accommodation for rent, andmarriages. Differences in number of advertisers in each category accordingto general business conditions. Differences in the stability of profits from, for


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example, small ads compared with full-page adverts. Changes in the signifi-cance of individual advertising categories for the newspapers and the gainsfor the advertisers. Relation of the newspaper publisher with others, especi-ally jobbing printers, producers of address books, etc.VI Competition and monopoly in the press sector Combined newspaperownership. Purchase of newspaper by other newspapers, with or withoutmerging of titles, sharing of production facilities between newspapers andrelated forms and means of competition. De facto monopoly position ofestablished newspapers: greatest in America (because of Associated Press).Degree and form of suppression of competition through monopoly inGermany. Accumulation of capital. The formation of newspaper cartels inEngland, America and Germany (concerns in the north or in the south, theirdevelopment and their impact). To be examined in detail: the activity of theAssociation of German Newspaper Publishers (the struggle to establish fixedadvertising tariffs and for agreed discount rates, against covert advertising,the creation of paper purchasing offices, the attempt to arrive at standardizededitorial contracts, the struggle for the purification of newspaper contents,etc.) in the elaboration of its goals and the stability of its organization.Diminished importance of monopolistic position where retail trade prevails?To what degree does the prevalence of retail trade mean: more frequentchanges in the papers read by the public, better opportunities for newlyfounded papers and for papers which are improving their quality? The com-petition of newspaper types and the outcome. What is the extent of purelycommercial factors, as compared with political or other factors? Which typesprevail? Internal tendency towards regional monopolization of politicalinformation on the part of large newspapers. To what extent do those news-papers published in large cities, especially in the major cities, dominate thecountry as a whole?

VII Newspapers and journalism The qualitative demands made uponmodern journalists, adaptation and selection through the conditions andpractices of the newspaper business. Social background, previous education,means of recruitment, conditions of appointment and payment, the careerof journalists (if possible by questionnaire), the specific character anddevelopment of the socio-economic position of journalists, changes from andto other kinds of occupation, the nature of the journalists life chances (thatprevailing today compared with earlier, domestically compared with thatabroad) both within and outside his occupation. Conflicts of interest andtheir settlement between the newspaper business and journalism. Theorganizational development of professional bodies, the nature and evolutionof their responsibilities (in finding employment for their members, the


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establishment of pension and related funds, the tribunals of the Associationof German Editors, which regulate professional conduct and settle disputes).The degree to which individual journalists are able to influence changes inthe spirit of a newspaper.

VIII Other employees of the newspaper Moves to form professionalorganizations and the chances for the same.Substantive commercial, formal and quantitative discussions of the news-paper business should wherever possible be made in a strictly calculable form(through cutting newspapers up, sorting the elements by content and measur-ing with dividers), in this way providing a foundation for the investigation ofqualitative aspects of newspaper development, the various problems relatedto which can be grouped as follows.

(B) The general cbaracterl of a newspaperI The production of a newspapers character and tendency Collectivismand individualism in the creation of a newspapers contents. Newspaper ano-nymity : its bases: commercial (e.g. contrast between subscription press andretail press), political (e.g. greater or lesser resilience of party organizationsas a condition for press anonymity), social (e.g. efforts to preserve the tra-dition and prestige of a newspaper as such, maintenance of the power relationbetween newspaper capital and journalism), and cultural (e.g. greater or lesserauthority of the printed word, especially that printed anonymously andappearing as a collective product, for a public, assessed with respect to itsvarying levels of political awareness). Its effects: on journalists - on the edu-cational advancement or retardation of public opinion - on the political andcultural importance of the newspaper as such.

II External influences on the character of a newspaper1 The degree to which a formally independent newspaper is bound to its

tradition. Comparisons with abroad. The media of such constraints:through owner or shareholders (compare also through that of the pur-chasers, through semi-official or similar influences). Increase or decreaseof dependence, internationally compared. The rise of the more or lesspurely news-based paper and of the real or supposedly non-partisannewspapers, of the family newspaper and of the independent nationalnewspaper.

Special analysis of the trade sections with respect to the sources of infor-mation, of judgements and also comparison with abroad. Relation to inter-ested parties as sources of information. Shifts in the style of large newspapers


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in general or with respect to special questions. What means of contacting thereadership do newspapers have? What is the actual impact of the readershipsconvictions and biases, and how does this happen?2 Newspapers formally tied to a specific programme, whether in general or

in respect of particular issues.(a) Catholic press. Manner of finance, management and control, level and

nature of the individual stance of individual papers. Background ofeditors. De facto division of power between press, independentCatholic organizations and the established Church authorities. Com-parison with abroad (America, France, Austria).

(b) Social Democratic press. Special features of their conditions of exist-ence, official and actual relations to party leadership, to local partygroups, to unions and other interested parties. Background andcareers of social democratic editors. Existing monopoly position anddivision of power within the press, and between press, party, sup-porters and intellectuals.

(c) Newspapers representing the bourgeoisie.3 Relationship of the political parties to the formally free press. Actual div-ision of powers between party and the press within the individual parties(involvement of the press in party meetings, efforts on the part of the pressto maintain its independence while the party seeks to increase its control).III ?he production of public opinion by the press1 Comparative analysis of the forms of newspaper reading abroad (e.g.America, France) and at home, quantitatively and qualitatively (specialattention to be paid to a qualitative analysis of local newspapers abroad,and in the south, east and west of Germany). Categorization of newspaperreading itself through the arrangement of printing, the increase and type oftelegraphic reporting and the greater or lesser emphasis lent thereby to par-ticular reports and other matter.

2 What are the other media forms that the Press displaces? (Classicalexample: Russia before and after the decree granting relative press freedom,displacement of periodicals, transformation of the entire nature and ten-dency of reading material.) Urbanization of the countryside and smalltowns through the influence of the press.

3 What kind of reading matter does the press encourage, and what changesin forms of thought and expression does it promote? (Classical example tostart with: analysis of American magazines.) Extent and nature of linkagebetween newspaper reading and that of other printed material.

4 Influence on colloquial speech by the press (real and supposed newspaperGerman, conditioned by the use of telegram and telephone) and the


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extension of this influence to written and literary language (this can bedealt with in a reliable manner only as a careful philological study). Influ-ence on the need for discussion and knowledge brought about by the com-bined factual and emotional style of newspaper reporting and newspapercriticism. Real and apparent broadening of intellectual horizon, enrich-ment and schematization of thought. (Here solely illustration with exten-sive quantities of concrete examples is of any value.)

5 What kind of person does the Press make famous or influential? Appealof newspaper fame for whom and for what? About whom and about whatis the newspaper silent; what kind of reasons, related to the character andneeds of the readership, are there for this?

6 The nature of the demands made on press contents according to gender,occupation, social stratum both at home and abroad. Comparison of scien-tific and critical supplements with their corresponding specialist journals,feature sections with belles-lettres. The newspaper as a letter box, theculture that arises out of this.

7 The degree of discretion on the part of the press and the principlesgoverning newspapers in this regard, concerning which there exist somevery erroneous ideas (here an analysis of the gutter and revolver press,compared internationally by quantity and quality).

8 Newspaper publicity and public morality, compared historically andinternationally.

Such questions can be easily multiplied and only in relation to these andsimilar questions would the actual major cultural questions concerning thesignificance of the press - with its ubiquitous, standardizing, matter-of-factand at the same time constantly emotionally-coloured influence on the stateof feelings and accustomed ways of thinking of modern man, on political,literary and artistic activity, on the constitution and displacement of massjudgements and mass beliefs - be open to debate.

It must once more be noted what the foregoing report should have madeplain: that before one begins with such questions, on which it is very easy towrite an entertaining Feuilleton, on which it is unbelievably difficult tocompose a scientific presentation - a broad foundation of experience and ofanalyses has to be created. The initial work can begin with autobiographiesof the larger newspapers: Klnische, Allgemeine, Schlesische, FrankfurterZeitung, Scbwibiscber Merkur, Hamburger Nachrichten, etc. The substan-tive material, besides trade directories, will come from questionnaires onspecific questions, and besides newspaper archives (insofar as these becomeaccessible), working through newspapers with a pair of scissors will be ofbenefit. In addition: trips abroad by specially selected individuals: America,England, France. (Suitable contributors would here be those reasonably wellacquainted with the German newspaper business, and if possible also


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journalism, for whom a study grant towards the cost of an extended visit toAmerica for the purpose of orientation, or to work on a voluntary basis inthe local press, would be welcome.)

These, however, are all things that not only require a substantial amountof money, but also considerable patience, on the part of the workers engaged,the supervising association and its donors, as well as from a public anticipat-ing results. It also goes without saying that the success of the work presup-poses the benign and trustful cooperation of the newspaper publishers,together with journalists and other interested parties in the newspaper busi-ness, whose representatives must be approached directly following the pre-liminary securing of material means to request that they accept cooption intothe commission and identify suitable individuals able to contribute to theproject. It is to be hoped that they have confidence in the enterprise, beingconvinced - as one hopes - that this survey aims at nothing other than a purelyscientific determination of objective facts, and does not serve, even in thebroadest sense, the interests of political or moralizing needs. If the projectis then joined by respected scholars familiar with newspaper practice, andwhose lack of prejudice, expert knowledge and impartiality is widelyaccepted, then we can anticipate every success.

Translated by Keith Tribe

NOTE

1 Zeitungsgesinnung in the original [trans.].


WEBER - Preliminary Report on a Proposed Survey for a Sociology of the Press

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