Lesson Write Up - 21st Oct

Hypodermic Needle Theory

• The media injects the audience with information
• Audience is passive therefore takes the information at face value

• One of the very first theories about the media
• Therefore could be outdated and irrelevant
• Now web 2.0 gives us a chance to voice our own opinions

Source & Impact -

• This theory is weak because there is no-one in between the message and the opinion
• At the time this theory was relevant

It was developed in the 1920's/30's

It's a linear communication theory

 

Hypodermic needle theory - implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The mass media in the 40's/50's were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change.

Several factors contributed to this 'strong effects' theory of communication including; the fast rise and popularisation of radio and TV

The emergence of persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda.

 

We believe the media to be true, but sometimes we don't believe it because now we have a lot more ways of researching what we hear.

• The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformity by 'shooting' or 'injecting' them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response.
• This theory (a needle) suggests a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver
• It says that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the receiver or audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message
• People seen as passive, seen as having media 'shot' at them.

A Famous Case:

 

In the 1930's a radio broadcast of 'War of the Worlds' was performed like a real news broadcast to heighten the effect of the story, people listening thought it was real and assumed Mars had come to invade the Earth.

This demonstrates a passive audience and now an audience believes what they hear in the news and how this can quickly lead to misinterpretation.

 

Cons of the Theory:

• very out of date and invalid
• not all people consume media in the same way
• not everyone watches the news or consumes it in the same way
• audiences are not simply passive, more up to date theories have proved this