The differences between the normative press and the empirical press in a country can be located in the following five major categories: (a) press-public, (b) press-society, (c) press-government, (d) press roles, and (e) press-politics.
To identify the differences between the normative and empirical in the press-public category, each normative statement is examined against its corresponding empirical scenario: (a) The press should inform (vs. actually informs) the public of events/issues of their concerns; (b) The press should entertain the public within legal/ethical limits; (c) The press should educate (vs. actually educates) the public; (d) The press should empower (vs actually empowers) the public to voice their concerns and views; (e) The press should guide (vs. actually guides) the public opinion; (f) The press should publish (vs. actually publishes) diversity of views and voices from the public; (g) To keep a watchful eye over press performance should be (vs. actually is) the job of the public not government; (h) The public should be (vs. is actually) proactive and critical instead of being passive, reactive or even apathetic in interacting with the press; and (i) The press should be (vs. is actually) accountable to the public.
To locate the differences between the normative press and the empirical press in the press-society category, east normative statement is investigated with its corresponding empirical situation: (a) The press should facilitate (vs. actually facilitates) democratization; (b) The press should facilitate (vs. actually facilitates) transparency; (c) The press should facilitate (vs. actually facilitates) cultural developments; (d) The press should facilitate (vs. actually facilitates) economic developments; (e) The press should facilitate (vs. actually facilitates) social developments; (f) The press should facilitate (actually facilitates) political developments; (g) Press freedom should be respected and practiced (vs. is actually respected and practiced) regardless of social, cultural, political or economic situations in your country; (h) Press freedom should be exercised (vs. is actually exercised) in a responsible fashion, giving no room to anything like “to publish first and to be dammed later”; (j) When your country becomes fragile socially, politically and/or economically, nation building should be (vs. is actually) the priority of the press; (k) When your country becomes unstable socially, the press should cooperate (vs. actually cooperates) with government to promote or maintain social stability; (l) When economic growth is at stake in your country, the press should cooperate (vs. actually cooperates) with government to promote or maintain economic growth; (m) When racial harmony is at stake in your country, the press should cooperate (vs. actually cooperates) with government to promote or maintain racial harmony; and (n) When religious/cultural diversity is at stake in your country, the press should cooperate (vs. actually cooperates) with government to promote/maintain such diversity.
The normative and empirical differences in the press-government category can be located through comparing the following normative statements with their corresponding empirical situations: (a) Press and government should cooperate (vs. actually cooperate) when your country is unstable socially, politically and/or economically; (b) The press should keep (vs. actually keeps) the power of government in check to prevent it from being abused; (c) Government should keep (vs. actually keeps) the power of the press in check to prevent it from being abused; (d) The press should keep (vs. actually keeps) a watchful eye over government performance to make sure it lives up to its promises to the public; and (e) Government should monitor and supervise (vs. actually monitors and supervises) the press to make sure it does not go wild in its performance.
The following normative statements regarding the press role are also compared with their empirical scenarios: (a) The press should play (vs. actually plays) a monitorial role in society; (b) The press should play (vs. actually plays) a facilitative role in society; (c) The press should play (vs. actually plays) a radical role (call for change) in society; and (d) The press should play (vs. actually plays) a collaborative role in society.
Finally, normative-empirical differences in press-politics relationship can be identified through cross-examining the following four normative statements and their corresponding empirical scenarios: (a) The press should be free (vs. is actually) from any candidate’s influences in covering a general election; (b) The press should NOT side with (vs. does NOT side with) any candidates in covering a general election; (c) The press should be (vs. is actually) free from any political parties’ influences in covering politics; and (d) The press should NOT side with (vs. does NOT side with) any political parties in covering politics.
Results of a Web-Based Survey on What the Press Should Be and Do
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