Media Influence
Key Terms
 Media forms – Film is a form of media, print is
another. The study guide requires us to look at a
variety of forms of media.
 Media text – any product related to media, e.g. a
film, a television programme, a book, a magazine, a
newspaper, an advertisement, etc.
 Communication theories – There is no single
correct theory of media influence; they are all
attempts to explain the perceived power of the
media. We refer to perceived power as the theories
vary from one extreme to the other.
Media for the masses
 The first television broadcast took place in 1939 &
brought with it a new range of fears concerning
media influence.
 Television created new markets, advertising products
and an instant visual means of getting information
across to a mass audience.
 People began to worry about advertising and it’s
potential to influence
Early Studies
 Psychologists have used various methods to
investigate the effects of the media, including
laboratory experiments and studies of children in
their everyday lives
 One of the most famous laboratory experiment
was by psychologist Albert Bandura, and was
carried out in the 1960’s. It is known as the
“ Bobo doll” experiment.
Bobo doll experiment
 The Bobo doll experiment was conducted by Albert
Bandura in 1961. He was trying to prove that
aggressive behaviour was learned through observing
and imitating others.
 In this experiment three groups of children saw a film
which showed an adult attacking an inflatable doll
with a stick.
 When the children had seen the film, they were
given the same doll. Bandura observed their
behaviour and concluded that the children imitated
the aggressive behaviour.
Bobo doll cont’
 Bandura’s methodology was less than perfect. What
problems can you see in it?
 The sole purpose of a Bobo doll is to bounce back
up when knocked over; to act as a target. Therefore,
the children in the experiment were likely to hit the
target Bobo doll for fun because this is what it is
designed for.
 Sample group was small and all from the same socio
– economic background.
 The experiment is important because it sparked
many more studies about the effects that viewing
violence had on children.
Evaluating & Analysing
 Some questions to ask yourself when analysing
studies associated with issues of media studies.
 Under what kinds of conditions were the tests
held? Was the testing realistic? Was the room
or environment perhaps influential in relation to
the results, eg; could participants have been
uncomfortable or affected by their surrounds?
 Are the participants a balanced representation of
a cross section of that particular population? Eg;
consider age, background, socio-economics, etc
Evaluating cont’
 Were there any pay-offs or rewards for participants? If so,
could this have affected the results?
 Was the study held under controlled conditions
(empirically based) or are the results based on anecdotal
references?
 Are there any coincidences in the findings? Or have
statistical ‘averages’ been referred to? Eg; sometimes in a
newspaper you will read blanket statements concerning
research on particular topics…… ‘on average most
children under ten eat too much junk food.’
 Who conducted the study and where? How valid was it?
Theories and Models
 These terms are used interchangeably but for the
record:
 A theory is a set of systematically related
generalisations suggesting new observations for
empirical testing
 A model is a theoretical and simplified
representation of the real world. It is often useful
to help illustrate a theory.
Theories of media influence
 Although there are numerous theories which attempt to
explain the impact of the media we will only examine 5.
 Bullet/Hypodermic theory
 Uses & Gratification theory
 Reinforcement theory
 Agenda setting function theory
 Postmodernist theory
Bullet/Hypodermic theory
 It was developed in the 1920s & 30s after researchers
observed the effect of propaganda during World War I
and incidents such as Orson Welles’ War of the
Worlds broadcast.
 Rose to popularity in the 1940’s and 50’s when the
Payne Fund Studies Group and the Frankfurt School
of Germany presented concerns about the power of
the media.
 It became the dominant way of thinking about media
influence during these decades.
Bullet/Hypodermic theory
 The Hypodermic Needle theory is a linear
communication theory which suggests that a media
message is injected, or shot directly into the brain of
a passive, homogenous audience.
 This theory assumes that no matter what audiences
are presented with, by the media, individuals should
understand & be affected by it in the same way.
 The model suggests information travels in a linear
fashion and that texts are ‘closed’.
Bullet/Hypodermic theory
Nazis & Propaganda
 Frankfurt school who were a group of mainly Jewish
intellectuals very concerned at watching Hitler come to
power.
 Joseph Goebbels was Hitler’s minister for propaganda
and in 1933 when the Nazi’s came to power and he
played a crucial role in taking over all the radio stations
as well as all the newspapers and magazines. They saw
the media as a crucial part of their rise to power.
 The people could not resist the influence of Hitler’s
message through radio, how else could 38 million people
become so supportive of him in such a short time.
 The bullet theory could be used to explain how Hitler
could convert a nation to follow him.
War of the Worlds
 One of the most famous examples of the most
supposed efficacy of the bullet theory is H.G. Wells’
broadcast of War of the Worlds.
 In this radio play Welles chose to broadcast the play
in the style of a news broadcast where Martians
were invading the earth.
 United States experienced mass hysteria--most
pronounced on the east coast in New York and New
Jersey--in response to a radio broadcast. Although
the % of actual hysterical people is disputed the
reaction prompted many studies into the influence of
the media.
War of the worlds
Bullet/Hypodermic theory
 FLAWS & WEAKNESSES
 Far too simplistic
 Not possible for everyone to receive & understand a
message in the same way as others, because various
things interfere in the process.
 Ignores interpretation which is a crucial part of the
communication process.
 The theory was never tested empirically but rather based
on anecdotal viewpoints.
 If this theory was correct then we would have 100%
acceptance of any media message transmitted to an
audience. This has never been true.
Uses & Gratification theory
 Origin in USA in the 1940s and Paul Lazarfeld’s work.
Then refined by Elihu Katz in 1959 and Bulmer in the 70s
 Shifted attention away from the message makers to the





message receivers.
Uses and Gratification theorists believe that the media
has no power at all over people’s attitudes & beliefs.
The central focus for their thinking was that audiences
used the media to satisfy their needs.
The audience has the power, not the media.
Assumes that audiences are active
Texts are open (to interpretation) and being read in
different ways
Uses & Gratification theory
 They believe;
 That the media doesn’t affect society at all because
people make use of the media, rather the media making
use of them.
 Audiences consume the media type they want – tune into
TV & radio stations; read newspapers & magazines.
 They consume the media because they like what they
are getting. If they don’t like it they will not consume it.
Therefore they have the power over the media.
 Audiences use the media and are gratified by the media
for their own purposes, eg; audiences watch soap operas
to gratify some level of emotional and entertainment
needs.
Uses & Gratification theory
 When you come home from a hard day and you want to
veg out you choose a particular radio or television station to
suit your needs, comedy, music, the newspaper or
whatever. The ratings measure what you want and respond
to your needs according to what you want. If there is
nothing on that you want to consume you are likely to do
something else.
 The media industry to this day are uses and gratification
theorists as ratings have a direct effects on what is aired.
 If a media product isn’t consumed it will go out of
circulation.
Uses & Gratification theory
 FLAWS & WEAKNESSES
 Too neat & prescriptive
 Although it states that the audience has the
power it does not specify what influence the
media does have.
 Although it acknowledges that audiences are not
a single ‘mass’ in relation to the text, it fails to
recognize that individuals often interact in groups
away from the text
Reinforcement theory
 Developed by a traditional sociologist called Joseph
Klapper in the 1960s in the USA.
 Klapper basically agreed with the Uses &
Gratification theorists with one significant
modification.
 He argued that if a person believes something, it is
usually because of the influence of their family, peer
group, religion, school, job, or social class, etc.
 Therefore the media can only reinforce that belief
that we already have positively or negatively.
Reinforcement theory
 Klapper’s point was Where do we get our values and
opinions from?
 We get them from our family, we get them from our peer
group, from our education process, from our religious
institutions, from our work and from our social class.
 They are the traditional socialising agencies and this is
where Klapper was coming from as a traditional
sociologist.
 He said the media doesn’t actually activate change, it
simply reinforces it.
Reinforcement theory
 Klapper asked a question which Uses & Gratification
theorists had not considered.
 What occurs when the media starts talking about
something which has never been talked about before?
Something that your socialising agents (parents, peer
group, school, etc) had never heard of or talked about.
 He believed that when the media introduces something
new that it has the potential to shape & influence opinion
by reporting and presenting particular issues in a
particular way.
 Because there were no other socialising influences
forming our opinions, because something was new and
unheard of, then the media has the power to form and
influence how we respond to these new and particular
issues.
Reinforcement theory
 On these rare occasions when the media can
influence the public, it is only for a for a short period
of time, until other traditional sources of influence in
society become aware of the issue.
 Once the traditional socialising agencies become
aware of the new issue they will once again become
the dominant influence that shapes public opinion
and the media’s temporary power will dissipate.
 Klapper sees all text as open and the individuals as
active.
Reinforcement theory
 FLAWS
 Puts all the onus on the individual rather than the
media.
 Claims that the media is too weak.
Agenda Setting Function theory
 Developed 1972 by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw
in their study of the role of the media in the 1968
presidential campaign.
 This theory came out of a swing back to considering that
the media was important. That the media had to be
understood at a deeper level.
 Agenda Setting Function Theory in a nut shell says the
media can’t tell you what to think (bullet theory), but it can
tell you what to think about.
 The media can set the agenda about what is discussed.
They are able to do this by the process of selection and
omission. This is sometimes called ‘gatekeeping’.
Agenda Setting Function theory
 Gate-keeping is the idea that on one hand the media
allows certain things to be discussed & on the other hand
not discussed (or shut out).
 The media has the ability to give one side of the story far
more prominence, so for example in wartime the media
frame the arguments for our side of the conflict clearly
and profoundly while downplaying or omitting entirely the
opposing point of view.
 By doing this the media can not only tell us what we
should be thinking about but can also give us a preferred
reading on the given issue. Try to tell us which parts of
an issue are important and which are not.
Agenda Setting Function theory
 The most famous example of agenda setting was work
done by the Glasgow media group in the 1970’s
 The Glasgow media group was interested in how the
news was prioritised as it came into the newsroom. What
would a news bulletin set as its agenda. They researched
what lead news bulletins, what came second in a report
and so on.
 They showed that the news does have priorities and
does indicate with these priorities what importance
events are given. You can then set the agenda of what is
important, what is significant.
Agenda Setting Function theory
 STRENGTHS
 May explain why many people prioritise the same issues as
important
 If people are exposed to the same media, they may feel the
same issues are important.
 WEAKNESSESS
 An audience may pay only casual and intermittent attention
to public affairs and remain ignorant of the details.
 For people who have made up their minds, the effect is
weakened.
Post modernism
 Developed during the 1980s by The French School
(Derrida, Baudrillard, Lyotard)
 Postmodernism opposes the idea that society &
culture can be understood by using one or two big
theories to explain everything.
 Has the view that every individual member of society
has their own way of reading a media product.
 The media has little power, if any.
 Texts are always open
Post modernism
 No such thing as a preferred or dominant reading.
 Suggests any media product or event is interpreted
and understood differently by individuals with
different values & different ways of looking &
reacting to the world.
 Open text theory means that everything is relative.
Our meanings are always changing. The meanings
will create change. There is no truth. Truth depends
on who you are and at what time and what place you
exist in.
Post modernism
 Watch a film that you know you watched 5, 10,15, 20
years ago. The film is the same, shot for shot but
your interpretation of it, is that the same?
 Watch that same film in 2015, 2020, again clearly the
text remains the same in terms of the content, what
about your interpretation, Is that the same?
 After all those years you’re not the same person,
now you, an individual have a different interpretation
of that film. Because you, not the text has changed,
the meaning has changed because of you.
Post modernism
 Postmodernists don’t like to group responses
together, they believe that people are unique in
relation to everybody else, and change over time.
 Nothing in terms of media influence is certain
because all that can be noted is that this is an
individuals response right now
 It is important to note that with postmodernism there
is no such thing as an authority on a particular issue
& that everybody’s opinion is equally valid.
Summary
 These theories are simply ideas or understandings–
there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ theory.
 Clearly there are overlaps occurring between the
theories.
 How you see the media and the effects on audience
absolutely depends on how you conceive the
processes of communication.
 Whether you think of the media as all powerful
shaping the way we think about the world or whether
you think our social climate and our social context
determines what we take from the media.