How can journalism studies benefit from a systems theoretical approach? Luhmann’s systems theory applied to journalism

Abstract

This paper aims at introducing the theory of social systems (derived from the differentiation theory) by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann and discuss its application to journalism studies. While systems theory has been considered the mainstream of journalism research in Germany since the 1990s, renowned Brazilian textbooks do not even mention Luhmann's framework and further efforts to model it amidst journalism research. As this perspective is still not well established in Latin America, we seek to highlight the benefits of employing such an approach in journalism studies. Since journalistic routines, roles, and organizations are being radically challenged, definitions and delimitations derived from systems theory can be handy to describe and analyze such structural changes.