Page 33 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Promise of Democracy

on confidence in the use of symbols, ranging, for instance, from the
emotional appeal of the national flag or the holy cross to expres-
sions of motherhood or friendship, couched in terms suitable for
mass communication.
Since ancient times, the circulation of information has played a
major role in the realm of religious indoctrination, for instance,
when Catholicism seized upon opportunities for spreading papal
policies and the word of God throughout its empire. In fact, Chris-
tian theologians have always been particularly interested also in the
use of imagery as an effective means of instruction and conversion
that would supplant the word among illiterates and – in a more
sophisticated and symbolic form – encourage contemplation among
the learned few. Hence, mass communication was applied by the
church – which remained the main source of propaganda (or per-
suasion), and the great enforcer of the word, continuously until the
eighteenth century.When democratic principles entered public life,
however, those who had gained political and economic (or military)
power insisted on secular allegiance to the state.
The rise of nationalism – frequently intertwined with the growth
of capitalism – heightened demands for throwing off the domina-
tion of the church. A literate public became a potential threat to
the social order, and traditional authority, like religion, sought new
institutional mechanisms to absorb and organize class and commu-
nity. Thus, Protestantism made use of the support of printers (as
intellectual workers) and their religious agitation, for example,
to help advance the cause of the Reformation through mass
communication.
As secular institutions developed, government by consent required
indoctrination of the governed into the social, political, and cultural
fundamentals of a democratic existence.The press played an increas-
ingly important role in the education of an informed electorate. For
instance, Thomas Jefferson not only believed that education and
schooling would produce an enlightened electorate, capable of
participation in the political process, but he also appreciated the
presence of the press for the protection of democratic practices and
the unrestricted dissemination of information and opinions.
With the Industrial Revolution, political and commercial propa-
ganda represented daily encounters with ideological campaigns to

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