Applying the Bullet
My TV is turned on five minutes before the news starts. I am sitting patiently waiting to be informed. This hour is gold and I need all of it. Whatever the talking head says, I absorb. Most importantly, do NOT talk to me when I am watching the news.
The Hypodermic Needle Theory categorizes the general public as a group willing and eager to eat up the information from big news. It states the audience is very susceptible to be influenced by the words of the power.
This is the image that comes to mind when I think of the Hypodermic Needle Theory. While it originally may have been right as mass media emerged in the 1920’s where everyone begged to get their hands on newspapers, I believe this theory is now outdated. Take the opening paragraph, what about this seemed natural? While of course, it was an inflation on the idea, the theory pushed a willing and eager audience.
The Communication Theory website helped define what we are talking about today. “The media (needle) injects the message into the audience's mind and it causes changes in audience behavior and psyche towards the message. The audience is passive and they can’t resist the media message is called “Hypodermic Needle Theory”(Source).
With the emergence of the internet and smartphones, everyone was blessed with the ability to get their news when, where, and from who they wanted. All of this started breaking the needles and shifting towards a more current theory like the Two-Step Theory.
The biggest alter in the theory was the awakening of the general public. “The audience had the power to make decisions on how to utilize media content (Griffin, 2000; McQuail, 2005).
This cartoon also helps illustrate the ideas behind the theory. Your “general” audience being spoon-fed. A point I believe to be true is the consumption of media from kids by games and TV. These young minds still molding can hold true on this theory as they have not been exposed to the thought of differing new sources and truth from fluff in the news. But the overall validity of the theory falls short.
While the idea of Hypodermic Needle still occurs today, as seen through the rush for gas this last week as big media stated there was a deficiency, I like to believe most “general” public has been awoken to understand all news comes with bias. If you want to help break this theory, I simply ask you to ask. Ask yourself where your news is from. Ask how many sources you heard these ideas from. Ask yourself simply why you believe it. Do not be passive but active in finding the truth.
