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In the 1920s

The popularity of film and peoples widespread access to


the radio heralded a new era of mass media.
Sociologists and academics became concerned about
the social and moral influences these popular new
mediums might be having on mass audiences and thus
began to explore how people were reacting and
responding.

Over in Germany...

Joseph Goebbels was Hitlers


minister for propaganda and in
1933 when the Nazis came to
power, 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 Hitlers message
through radio; how else could
38 million people become so
supportive of him in such a
short time?

Germany, 1920s: The Frankfurt School

The people who began The Frankfurt School were mainly


German academics (many of whom had fled Nazi Germany
prior to World War 2).

They had how an entire nation had been influenced to


become firmly anti-Jewish.

They saw the media as a strong influence and believed in the


powerlessness of the mass media audience.

They proposed the first major communication theory to be


developed at a time where the media was becoming a force
to be reckoned with

The hypodermic
needle theory

Media influence

Overview

Also known as The Bullet Theory

A linear communication theory

Suggests that the media has a direct, immediate and


powerful influence on audiences, like being injected with
a hypodermic needle

Suggests that audiences are sitting ducks who


passively absorb all the media material being shot at
them

Mass media

Message

Audience

Factors
Several factors contributed to this theory of communication:

the fast rise and popularity of radio and TV

the emergence of persuasion industries (e.g. propaganda)

the Payne Fund studies of the 1930s which focused on


the impact of motion pictures on children

Hitlers monopolisation of the media during WWII to unify


the German public behind the Nazi Party

The Payne Fund Studies (USA)

The Payne Fund Studies, which were conducted


between 1929-1932 and looked at the effect movies
have on children, also contributed to this idea that the
mass media has a powerful and direct influence on
audiences.

The studies tested things like the retention of factual


information from films, the influence of films on childrens
attitudes towards racial and ethnic groups, the capacity
of films to arouse childrens emotions and how certain
films interrupted childrens sleep.

The Payne Fund Studies

We see that as an instrument of education it


has unusual power to impart information, to
influence specific attitudes towards objects of
social value, to affect emotions in either gross
or microscopic proportions, to affect health in a
minor degree through sleep disturbance, and
to affect profoundly the patterns of conduct of
children.
- WW Charters, the chairman of the project, regarding the influence
of motion pictures

Applying the communication theory

War of the Worlds

A classic application of the


hypodermic needle theory was
illustrated on October 30 1938 when
Orson Welles and the newly formed
Mercury Theatre broadcasted their
radio edition of HG Welless War of
the Worlds

On the eve of Halloween, radio


programming was interrupted with a
"news bulletin" for the first time.

What the audience heard was that


Martians had begun an invasion of
Earth in a place called Grover's Mill,
New Jersey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=OzC3Fg_rRJM (from 34:00)

Applying the communication theory

War of the Worlds

Media theorists have classified the


War of the Worlds broadcast as the
archetypal example of the
Hypodermic Needle Theory.

This is exactly how the theory


worked, by injecting the message
directly into the "bloodstream" of
the public, attempting to create a
uniform thinking.

The eects of the broadcast


suggested that the media could
manipulate a passive and gullible
public, leading theorists to believe
this was one of the primary ways
media authors shaped audience
perception.

Strengths and weaknesses


Strengths

Weaknesses

A simple model to illustrate media Audiences more active than the


influence
theory proposes
Audiences do not receive messages
in same ways; various things interfere

Not tested empirically (just


anecdotally)

The Hypodermic Needle Theory today

Regarded as an outdated way of thinking; not really


supported

Still often applied to media products by the media in


headlines etc. but not supported by research or evidence

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