The theory suggests that audience are passive and cannot resist the media message.
Walter Lippman (1922) -through what was later termed the Agenda Setting theory by Max McCombs and Donald Shaw- observed that people see a world shaped primarily by the media. During the world war, Harold Lasswell proposed the theory of propaganda and noted how people whose world is shaped by the media become victims of propagandist messages which influences audiences’ behaviour prominently. The media message can penetrate most people defences and condition them to act in ways useful to the propagandist (Stanley B; 2009). Lasswell, in his communication model (1948) defined the classical linear explanation that communication involves who said what, in which channel, …show more content…
The theory is known by different names by different scholars, for example, the “bullet theory”, (Schramm; 1971), the “hypodermic-needle” theory (Berlo; 1960), or the “Stimulus- response” theory (DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach; 1989). The basis of the theory was that every message was conceived of as a direct and powerful stimulus to action which would elicit immediate response (Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955 cited by Morley; 1992). Hieber (1998), writing about the role of the media in conflict resolution and prevention, says, “although, direct cause and effect has never been proven, Radio Mille Colllines of Rwanda has played a role in alerting the international community to the dangers of hate-media”. The application of the theory was also seen in 1938, when the “War of the Worlds” broadcast became ‘Panic Broadcast’. The effects of ‘Panic Broadcast’ made history in the area of powerful media effects leading theorists to consider it as the standard example of the Magic Bullet …show more content…
The results of the research was the direct-effects model which was defined in simple terms in the classic question: Who says what to whom with what effect? (Lasswell; 1948).
Nevertheless, the Magic Bullet theory has been criticised extensively by scholars such as Paul Lazersfeld in 1940, who argued that media has limited and indirect effects on masses and that they were influenced more by interpersonal communication. The literature review will include scholars of the Birmingham School who criticised the Magic Bullet theory and these include Stuart Hall, Raymond Williams and others like David Morley, Maxwell McCombs and Donald
Walter Lippman (1922) -through what was later termed the Agenda Setting theory by Max McCombs and Donald Shaw- observed that people see a world shaped primarily by the media. During the world war, Harold Lasswell proposed the theory of propaganda and noted how people whose world is shaped by the media become victims of propagandist messages which influences audiences’ behaviour prominently. The media message can penetrate most people defences and condition them to act in ways useful to the propagandist (Stanley B; 2009). Lasswell, in his communication model (1948) defined the classical linear explanation that communication involves who said what, in which channel, …show more content…
The theory is known by different names by different scholars, for example, the “bullet theory”, (Schramm; 1971), the “hypodermic-needle” theory (Berlo; 1960), or the “Stimulus- response” theory (DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach; 1989). The basis of the theory was that every message was conceived of as a direct and powerful stimulus to action which would elicit immediate response (Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955 cited by Morley; 1992). Hieber (1998), writing about the role of the media in conflict resolution and prevention, says, “although, direct cause and effect has never been proven, Radio Mille Colllines of Rwanda has played a role in alerting the international community to the dangers of hate-media”. The application of the theory was also seen in 1938, when the “War of the Worlds” broadcast became ‘Panic Broadcast’. The effects of ‘Panic Broadcast’ made history in the area of powerful media effects leading theorists to consider it as the standard example of the Magic Bullet …show more content…
The results of the research was the direct-effects model which was defined in simple terms in the classic question: Who says what to whom with what effect? (Lasswell; 1948).
Nevertheless, the Magic Bullet theory has been criticised extensively by scholars such as Paul Lazersfeld in 1940, who argued that media has limited and indirect effects on masses and that they were influenced more by interpersonal communication. The literature review will include scholars of the Birmingham School who criticised the Magic Bullet theory and these include Stuart Hall, Raymond Williams and others like David Morley, Maxwell McCombs and Donald