What is the differences between Democratic Participant Theory and the Authoritarian Theory?

Answer 1

The democratization or democratic participant theoryemphasizes and supports the following mentioned thing's importance:

• The media's multiplicity;
• Local nature of media;
• Usage of the media in small scale;
• De-institutionalizing media;
• Reciprocal part of recipient or communicator;
• Horizontal media;
• Involvement and interaction.

Democratization / Democratic Participant Media Theory's staple principles are summarized by Mc Quail, in the year 1987. The principles are mentioned below:

• Minority-groups and individuals must be capable of enforcing the claims made by them for:

1. Freedom of approaching to media;
2. Freedom of asking for the service against the needs, demanded by them, to the media.

• Media's organization and message's content should be designed in such a way that it is not affected by the bureaucratic and political control.
• Media's existence should be proved in respect of the interests and need of the recipients & should not be justified in respect of interests and needs of media entity, professional workers of media or the advertisers.
• Communities, organizations and groups must own media individually.
• Participatory, small-scale and interactive types of the media have been considered of more profit in comparison to unidirectional and large-scale media. The later are taken into use by only professional-media-workers.
• Generally, needs of the society are not taken into consideration by the set media.
• Democratic Participant Media Theory considers communication or mass media as very important and should be managed by the professionals.

Democratic-participant theory is in the support of following points:

• Freedom to associated local data.
• Freedom for answering back
• Freedom for using new communication means for the purpose of interaction
• Freedom of taking social-action in community, subculture's and interest-group's small-scale settings.

There was a challenge given by the theory to the requirements for & desirability of centralized, uniform, professionalized, commercialized, state-controlled or high-cost media. Instead of these above mentioned media, encouragement should be given to small-scale, multiple, local, committed or non-institutional media, as these media link the senders with the receivers & also give favor to interaction's horizontal designs or patterns.

Theory's practical aspects are varied and many, including alternative or underground press, micro-media's availability in the rural areas, community-cable TV, wall-posters and media designed for ethnic-minorities and women. Interaction and participation are the important concepts of the democratic participant media theory. This theory has been considered as reaction. It is expresses by this theory that the faith in a people has been broken by the disillusionment's sense with the established parties of politics & with the system of media. Media should not be taken in use for empowering and stimulating pluralistic-groups. Democratic participant theory, unlike the social-responsibility theory, focuses on the new small-media's development which the members of the group can control directly.

Answer 2

Democratic Participant Theory emphasizes the active involvement of citizens in decision-making processes, promoting transparency and accountability. Authoritarian Theory, on the other hand, concentrates power and decision-making in the hands of a centralized authority, limiting citizen participation and freedoms.