CMN 1160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Mass Media, Communication Studies, Walter Lippmann

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Communication
• Course: CMN 1160
• Professor: Aliaa Dakroury

Document Summary

Following world war ii => researchers attempted to understand mass media"s impact on audiences: some believed mass media held the future of democracy, others believed that mass media were actually an impediment to democracy. Lowery and defleur: a social model was important in analyzing the flow of information between the media and the mass audience. Katz"s and lazarsfeld"s (1955) personal influence study showed conformity within primary groups (small groups) when assessing opinion leaders. they explain that when media attempts to portray presidential elections, they often use ambiguous and contradictory info. Opinion leaders: come in many form impact socio-economic life. The decatur study: significant step to study the two-step flow of communication more systematically. It examined the influence of opinion leaders on others in everyday life situations. Despite its importance, the decatur study would falter upon contemporary research techniques. However the study was a milestone in mass communication research because it provided a pivotal point in redirecting research.