Evaluate the usefulness of the hypodermic syringe model to our understanding of the role of the mass media.
By: Amy Rashid The amount of influence the media has on the society has been extensively debated and researcher. The hypodermic syringe model is an analogy between media messages and a drug injected by a hypodermic syringe; which represents the content of media being spread by the medium (television, newspaper, etc.). In this essay, I shall discuss the usefulness of the hypodermic syringe model alongside some other models to our understanding of the role of the mass media. First and foremost, the hypodermic syringe model explains the role of the media in the manipulation of the gullible public and creating moral public. This can be seen from the classic example of the application of the Magic Bullet Theory was illustrated on October 30, 1938 when Orson Welles and the newly formed Mercury Theatre group broadcasted their radio edition of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds." On the eve of Halloween, radio programming was interrupted with a "news bulletin" for the first time. What the audience heard was that Martians had begun an invasion of Earth in a place called Grover's Mill, New Jersey. It became known as the "Panic Broadcast" and changed broadcast history, social psychology, civil defence and set a standard for provocative entertainment. Approximately 12 million people in the United States heard the broadcast and about one million of those actually believed that a serious alien invasion was underway. A wave of mass hysteria disrupted households, interrupted religious services, caused traffic jams and clogged communication systems. People fled their city homes to seek shelter in more rural areas, raided grocery stores and began to ration food. The nation was in a state of chaos, and this broadcast was the cause of it. Media theorists have classified the "War