Social Institution is an organization that is critical to the socialization process, it provides a support system for individuals as they struggle to become members of a larger social network. A social institution consists of all the structural components of a society through which the main concerns and activities are organized and social needs such as those for order, belief, and reproduction are met. It refers to a social group of positions, connected by social relations, performing a social role. Gillen and Gillen defines “a social institution is a functional configuration of culture pattern which processes certain permanence and which is intended to satisfy felt social needs”.
The major institution in the society include the family, education, work and economy, the political institution and religion and health care as well as mass media , organized sports and military. Like many other institution journalism is also a distinctive social institution. Journalism is a established and organized system of social behavour with a recognized purpose. Journalism has its centrality in social processes and transfers knowledge from research to the relevant social institutions such as legislatures, regulatory authorities, media organizations, journalism education and training and the journalists themselves. Journalism have emerged as a social institution fulfilling many of the functions that are nolonger being served by traditional social institutions such as family, church and school. Journalism furnishes a safe place for people to discuss media, these discussions operate within limits. Journalism provides indirect access to subcultures within a country as well as indirect contact with other countries. In countries where media are state owned recognize the power of media as a social institution. These governments use the media to support the political agenda of the government.
