The Myth of Massive Media Impact: Savagings and Salvagings

Abstract

The formidable amount of time that people devote to receiving mass media messages leads most observers to assume that all this exposure must be having considerable impact on the public's thoughts, feelings, and actions. This paper examines the myth of mass media effectiveness and provides evidence on the intended and unintended media effects. The paper begins by describing the pervasiveness of the myth of media effectiveness and draw research findings that would show the impact of media on people. It then provides several post factum conjectures that could save the myth in the face of negative appearances; each of the excuses offering a different basis for keeping faith in the myth of large media impacts despite nonsupportive empirical evidence.