mass-communication-theory

300 Section 4 Contemporary Mass Communication Theory
The spiral-of-silence idea has encountered other criticisms as well. Charles
Salmon and F. Gerald Kline (1985) wrote that the effects explained by the spiral of
silence could just as easily be understood as the product of the bandwagon effect
(everybody wants to join a winner) or of projection (people’s natural tendency to use
their own opinions to form perceptions of the general climate of opinion around
them). In addition, these critics argued that individual factors, such as a person’s
degree of ego-involvement in an issue, should be considered (regardless of the climate
of opinion surrounding you, if you feel very strongly about the issue, you might not
want to remain silent, even if isolation is a threat). Salmon and Kline call, too, for further
examination of individual demographic differences that Noelle-Neumann suggested
would combine to produce people who are more likely to speak out—males,
younger people, and members of the middle and upper classes, for example.
Drawing on the notion that pluralistic groups can mediate media effects,
Carroll Glynn and Jack McLeod (1985) faulted the spiral of silence for underestimating
the power of people’s communities, organizations, and reference groups in
mitigating media influence on the larger society. Regardless of the consonant view
of racial equality presented in the news, they might say, a Ku Klux Klan member
would probably feel no great threat of alienation for expressing views to teammates
between innings of a Klan softball game. Glynn and McLeod also questioned
the generalizability of Noelle-Neumann’s research (conducted almost exclusively in
what was then West Germany) to the American situation, and they raised the possibility
of situations in which media can actually move people to speak up rather
than remain silent.
Noelle-Neumann (1985) responded simply that the media, especially television,
adopt a prevailing attitude in any controversy as a matter of course, and as a
result, they present a “dominant tendency.” Holders of the minority viewpoint are
willing to speak out if they feel that they are supported by the media dominant tendency
(as during the civil rights movement). Moreover, she offered an alternative
perspective of the media’s ability to increase speaking out in the face of rejection:
INSTANT ACCESS
The Spiral of Silence
It appears that the intensive articulation of a certain viewpoint in the media gives the
followers of this viewpoint the advantage of being better equipped to express their
point of view…. The resulting willingness to talk has nothing to do with fear of
Strengths Weaknesses
1. Has macro-and micro-level explanatory power
2. Is dynamic
3. Accounts for shifts in public opinion, especially
during campaigns
4. Raises important questions concerning the
role and responsibility of news media
1. Has overly pessimistic view of media influence
and average people
2. Ignores other, simpler explanations of silencing
3. Ignores possible demographic and cultural
differences in the silencing effect
4. Discounts power of community to counteract
the silencing effect
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