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A guard dog perspective is offered as a way to better understand the functioning of the mass media as an important set of communication agencies in the social system. mis perspective takes into account the varying roleperformances by mass media in reporting on majorpublic issues. m e guard dog metaphor suggests that media perform as a sentry not for the community as a whole, but for groups having sufficient power and injluence to create and control their own security systems. mis conception is delineated from otherperspectives, which include (aj the traditional fourth estate role of watchdog media, (b) the lapdog view of submissive media, and (c) the view of media aspart of a power oligarchy. Several hypotheses that may be derived for testing the utility of the guard dog perspective are suggested and discussed in light of various bodies of evidence available.The role of mass media as an independent and powerful force in society is an enduring and controversial issue (Dennis & Merrill, 1991). The literature contains a wide range of views about the existence and degree of media power and its autonomy from other powers in the system. The purpose of this paper is to offer a guard dog perspective of the social role of mass media, and to delineate this role from other perspectives, which include: (a) the traditional fourth estate role of independently powerful watchdog media; (b) the lapdog view of media as largely submissive to status quo political and economic authority, and (c) a view of media as neither watchdogs nor lapdogs but as part of a power oligarchy in the system.The guard dog conception takes into account the varying role performances by mass media in reporting on major public issues. Furthermore, it is a perspective from which several hypotheses can be derived for testing its utility in explaining media behavior.George A. Donohue is a professor emeritus of Sociology, Phillip J. Tichenor is a professor emeritus of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Clarice N. Olien is a professor emeritus of Extension and Rural Sociology, all at the University of Minnesota.

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