mass-communication-theory

INSTANT ACCESS
Information-Flow Theory
Strengths Weaknesses
1. Examines process of mass communication in
real world
2. Provides theoretical basis for successful public
information campaigns
3. Identifies barriers to information flow
4. Helps the understanding of information flow
during crises
information-flow
theory
Theory of how
information
moves from
media to audiences
to have
specific intended
effects (now
known as information
or innovation
diffusion
theory)
source-dominated
theory
Theory that
examines the
communication
process from the
point of view of
some elite message
source
Chapter 6 The Rise of Limited-Effects Theory 163
1. Is simplistic, linear, and source-dominated
2. Assumes ignorant, apathetic populace
3. Fails to consider utility or value of
information for receivers
4. Is too accepting of status quo
the researchers designed another field experiment in which people were supposed
to tell their neighbors about a slogan for a new brand of coffee. Survey teams visited
homes in a small town and told people that they could earn a free pound of
coffee by teaching their neighbors the coffee slogan. The survey team promised to
return the following week, and if they found that neighbors knew the slogan, then
both families would receive free coffee. The experiment produced mixed results. On
the one hand, almost every neighboring family had heard about the coffee slogan
and tried to reproduce it. Unfortunately, many gave the wrong slogan. The
researchers reported interesting distortions of the original slogan; many people had
shortened it, confused it with similar slogans, or recited garbled phrases containing
a few key words. The research confirmed the importance of motivating people to
pass on information, but it suggested that even a free gift was insufficient to guarantee
the accurate flow of information. If word of mouth was crucial to the flow of
information, the possibility of distortion and misunderstanding was high. Even if
media deliver accurate information, the news that reaches most people might be
wrong.
The most important limitation of information-flow theory is that it is a simplistic,
linear, source-dominated theory. Information originates with authoritative or elite
sources (the established media or the government, for example) and then flows outward
to “ignorant” individuals. It assumes that barriers to the flow of information
can be identified and overcome, but little effort is typically made to consider whether
the information has any value or use for average audience members. Audience reactions
to messages are ignored unless they form a barrier to that flow. Then those barriers
must be studied only so they can be overcome. Like most limited-effects theories,
information-flow theory assumes that the status quo is acceptable. Elites and authorities
are justified in trying to disseminate certain forms of information, and average
people will be better off if they receive and learn it. Barriers are assumed to be bad
and, where possible, must be eliminated. Information-flow theory is also an example
of a middle-range theory. It serves to summarize a large number of empirical generalizations
into a more or less coherent explanation of when and why media information
will be attended to and what sorts of learning will result.
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