Recent Theory on Mass Media Potential in Political Campaigns

Scientific study, especially since the 1940s, has shown that the conventional wisdom regarding the power of the press requires qualification. For about 20 or 30 years before 1960, communication researchers studied the effects of the mass media in their laboratories, but they were disappointed by the contradictory findings and their inability to replicate them in natural, uncontrolled surroundings. A reversal of their model, so that it is not the communicator but the audience that decides on the messages that are re ceived, resulted in greater consistency in research findings. The new "uses and gratifications" or "information-seeking" theory requires that we distinguish between the informa tional and persuasive role of communication. The mass media are generally unsuccessful in persuading; however, they not only are eminently successful in informing, but on many topics and for most people they are also the sole source of information. This is the underlying principle of the agenda- setting model that is being used in much current research on the effects of mass communication. The mass media not only tell people what to think about, but they are a powerful determinant of the relative importance of the issues they choose to discuss. In this regard, newspapers appear to have an edge over television.