Early Mass Communication Theories Assumptions Media are a malignant, cancerous force in society and must be purged or totally restructured.
Media have the power to reach out and directly influence the minds of average people.
Once people s minds are corrupted by media, all sorts of bad, long-term consequences result bringing ruin not only to individual lives but also creating social problems on a vast scale. Average people are vulnerable to media because they have been cut off and isolated from traditional social institutions that previously protected them from manipulation. The social chaos initiated by media will inevitably be resolved by establishment of a totalitarian social order. Mass media inevitably debase higher forms of culture, bringing about a general decline in Civilization. Mass Communication Theory Starting Points Arato, Andrew and Eike Gebhardt, eds.