Sentence:  Public relations strategists everywhere , watching the reaction of the German press , the liberal press , the lunatic fringe press , listening to their neighbors , studying interviews with men and women on the street , cried out : Too much , too much - the mind of the audience is becoming dulled , the horrors are losing their <WSD>effect</WSD> . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work