bullet theory
Bullet Theory
The magic bullet perspective, also called the hypodermic needle model, is a model for communications. Magic bullet theory has been around since the 1920s to explain “how mass audiences might react to mass media,” reports Media Know All. According to University of Twent in the Netherlands, the theory states that mass media has a “direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences.
History
Several factors, including widespread popularity of radio and television, led to this “strong effects” theory of media influence. Also important were the new “persuasion industries” of advertising and propaganda being utilized by industries and governments alike. In the 1930s, the Payne Fund, developed by the Motion Picture Research Council, studied the impact of motion pictures on children to see if the magic bullet effect was controllable. Even Hitler monopolized the mass media in the belief that he could use it unify the German public behind the Nazis in the 1940s.
Function
The theory “suggests that the message is a bullet, fired from the ‘media gun’ into the viewer's head,’” states the University of Twente. In this model, the audience is passive. Viewers are sitting ducks with no chance to avoid or resist the impact of the message. Mass media, in this view, is dangerous because people believe the message since there is no other source of information. It is a "crude model," adds Media Know All, since it leaves out any attempt by the audience to consider or challenge the data.
Theory
Information, the theory claims, passes into the audience members’ consciousness as a mass or single entity, without regard for individual opinions, experiences or intelligence. In this theory, the creators of mass media strictly manipulate the audience as a single unit and the media-makers find it easy to direct
The magic bullet perspective, also called the hypodermic needle model, is a model for communications. Magic bullet theory has been around since the 1920s to explain “how mass audiences might react to mass media,” reports Media Know All. According to University of Twent in the Netherlands, the theory states that mass media has a “direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences.
History
Several factors, including widespread popularity of radio and television, led to this “strong effects” theory of media influence. Also important were the new “persuasion industries” of advertising and propaganda being utilized by industries and governments alike. In the 1930s, the Payne Fund, developed by the Motion Picture Research Council, studied the impact of motion pictures on children to see if the magic bullet effect was controllable. Even Hitler monopolized the mass media in the belief that he could use it unify the German public behind the Nazis in the 1940s.
Function
The theory “suggests that the message is a bullet, fired from the ‘media gun’ into the viewer's head,’” states the University of Twente. In this model, the audience is passive. Viewers are sitting ducks with no chance to avoid or resist the impact of the message. Mass media, in this view, is dangerous because people believe the message since there is no other source of information. It is a "crude model," adds Media Know All, since it leaves out any attempt by the audience to consider or challenge the data.
Theory
Information, the theory claims, passes into the audience members’ consciousness as a mass or single entity, without regard for individual opinions, experiences or intelligence. In this theory, the creators of mass media strictly manipulate the audience as a single unit and the media-makers find it easy to direct