Comparing Media Systems And News Production

Media system refers to all media that operate in a particular social and political system and their form of organization. In general, media system functions in accordance with national boundaries. A lot of case studies about media system has accumulated in international and domestic news production and other fields. However, how to explore the macro media system through the micro news coverage and the relationship between the two still remains a new research field that can expand the scope of comparative studies.By comparing the similarities and differences between Britain and Germany in state system, political structure, cultural background and so forth, this paper carries out a content analysis of200news reports about "welfare reform" in four British and German newspapers to verify and discuss the research hypotheses one by one. At last, the similarities and differences between British and German media systems are compared from four aspects:state and media, political parties and media, social groups and media, and level of expertise. It goes on to draw the following conclusions: Britain has a bigger government interference in media than Germany; German political parties have a closer relationship with media than its British counterparts; Social organizations in Germany, for example pressure groups, have a bigger influence on mass media than that in Britain; working staffs and organizations in both countries’media industry have more or less the same level of expertise.