The document discusses theories of media effects and influence. It describes how the "hypodermic model" which viewed audiences as passive recipients of media messages proved too simplistic. Researchers like Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet proposed the "two step flow" theory, which found that information from media does not directly influence audiences but rather flows through informal "opinion leaders" who influence their social circles. This two step process better explains how audiences actively mediate information from media.

1. Media Effects Debates
The Two Step Flow
– Long term effect theory
The hypodermic model proved too clumsy for media researchers seeking to
more precisely explain the relationship between the audience and text.
As the mass media became an essential part of life in societies around the
world and did not reduce populations to a mass of unthinking drones, a more
sophisticated explanation was sought…
Lazarsfeld, Berelson & Gaudet found that information does not flow directly
from the text into the minds of its audience unmediated but is filtered
through opinion leaders who then communicate it to their less active
associates, over whom they have influence.
The audience then mediate the information directly received by the media
using the ideas and thoughts expressed by the opinion leaders, thus being
influenced not by a direct process but a two step flow.
• Think honestly – are your opinions about television, films or groups ever
influenced by other people?
• Are there different ‘opinion leaders’ for different media? Who are they?
•Why do you trust some people over others?