Theory of Mass Communication

          

             I would like to explore the many aspects of the frightening form of journalism: "Journalism as a Hypodermic Needle". This aspect of the unscientific mass communication theory is very interesting to me because I'm extremely interested in propaganda, hence the blog name "Loose Lips Sink Ships". I actually care about the strength of mass communication and I like to examine periods in history in which propaganda has affected our society. As of right now though, I just want to describe the reasons in which people of the 1850s up to the 1930s might have truly agreed with this notion.
              During this time period mass communication was being inflated by the invention of many new technologies. In a sense, people of this time were demonstrating the human quality of fearing the unknown.  Media was taking on a more widespread form and this made it easier for media as a whole to infiltrate numerous areas of one's life. Also, this was a time of war and a time when the governments of many countries were seeking more serious methods of controlling their citizens, hence the creation of propaganda.
               Propaganda was used extensively during this time as well as after to influence the thoughts of citizens. In its most purest form, propaganda was able to keep the citizen in the category of passive. The passivity of the audience can be attributed to the fact that the citizens had no methods of challenging the statements that were being presented to them. Therefore, they were subjected to information that was viewed as being unbiased.
             With this information in mind, it is easy to understand how media could be identified as being overwhelming and undermining to the social order. Citizens weren't free to make up their own minds and the media facilitated this domination that really was based in the government.