Page 44 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Promise of Democracy

There is also a need to account for the presence of the masses
amidst political claims of emancipation, when the expression of
opinions becomes a sign of participation. Regardless of the size and
social structure of the public – which changed significantly from
the Middle Ages to modern times – expressions of the public mind
have continued to interest social theorists as evidence of social or
political activities, particularly in light of the role of mass commu-
nication in constructing social and political realities.
Aided by technological advances and through the spread of lit-
eracy and the questioning of clerical authority during the Refor-
mation, public opinion prospered with the rise of reason as a new
authority. The latter elevated the role of individuals as a source of
ideas and opinions and promoted the ascent of the modern idea of
the public. Indeed, it is at this point in the cultural history of mass
communication that the idea of communication, in general,
becomes identified with the task of uniting and sustaining societies.
Since the utilization of the printing press in the discourse of society,
systems of communication had typically accompanied the evolution
of the public sphere, public opinion, and democracy, and would play
a major role in the (political) use of mass communication during
the twentieth century. Furthermore, the production of public
opinion – thought to arise from individuals or relevant groups or
organizations in society – shifted into the realm of the media, which
manufactured public opinion vis-à-vis social or political institutions
in a process that eliminated the original sources. Walter Lippmann,
for instance, reminded his readers in the 1920s that public opinion,
in order to be sound, should be organized for the press and not by
the press, as was the case already at that time.
Nevertheless, mass communication emerged as a major force in
the production, circulation, and interpretation of public opinion; it
facilitated the creation of political or ideological positions, absorbed
individual opinions into the process of societal communication, and
fashioned language to reach large constituencies that participated –
at least potentially – in the public opinion process, creating the illu-
sion that they had been heard or taken into account. In other words,
mass communication helped build consensus through adaptation and
integration of differing interests.

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