2015-08-21
329
The earliest theories of mass communication imagined that mass media had very strong effects on their audiences. The Shannon/Weaver model illustrates that these theories saw the media message as a kind of “magic bullet”. Sent out by the organization, the magic bullets “hit” the members of the audience in their “minds” and changed their thoughts.
One of the first pieces of evidence that the Magic Bullet Theory was too simplistic came to light during research that was conducted in the wake of Orson Welles’ famous Mercury Theatre of the Air “Martian invasion” radio broadcast in 1938. According to the theory, anyone who listened to the broadcast should have believed that invaders from the planet Mars had landed in southern New Jersey. Yet, although some did believe it, most did not, and the ways in which they came to not believe were very interesting.
Some listeners switched channels to see if the news was being carried elsewhere; some picked up the phone and called friends to see if they were listening and if so, to ask what they thought about it; some paid enough critical attention to the show to recognize that it was fiction.
It was clear from these responses that most people did not accept the media message at face value. Rather, they took it under consideration and gave it meaning by comparing it to their prior experiences, and in many cases by talking it over with their families and friends.
