Media and democracy: a plural approach

Abstract

Power has been a topic of discussion ever since the first studies on the media were published. The model that opened up the debate, the "hypodermic theory," presented the thesis of the "unlimited effects" of the media over the behavior of individuals, the supposition being that the message acts on them directly and immediately (WOLF, 2005). The exaggeration of this initial analysis regarding the power of the media can be explained on the basis of its early theoretical and political context. The backdrop for the hypodermic theory was the emergence of behaviorism and mass psychology and the use of radio to mobilize the masses in totalitarian regimes, such as Nazism. Several later theories went beyond various drawbacks of the hypodermic theory, such as the fetishism of technique, discrimination toward "the masses," the supposition of the stupidity of audiences, the supposition of insulation, the fragility and passivity of the individuals who receive the messages, and even the fear of a democratization of culture (MAIGRET, 2010). Adorno and Horkheimer had insisted on the thesis of the unlimited power of the culture industry, * http://dx