This theory talks about three entities who are involved in the mass communication process; of which two, form the audience of the other one. They include the mass media itself, opinion leaders, and opinion followers (which form the mass audience). The first category of the mass audience is called the opinion leaders. These consist of people who frequently and directly get information from the mass media. They are people who know what happens all the time in the society: who listen to the radio or read the newspapers, or watch the TV all the time, (or even do all three concurrently). They might not necessarily, be the affluent in the society. They mediate the media and the society. The second category is the opinion followers. They are people who do not direct flow of information from the media but rather get their information through the opinion leaders. They may also not be the low class of people in the society, (who may not have radio sets, TV sets or newspapers). they depend on the opinion leaders for information in their discussions on daily happenings.
This theory, though seems to talk about the independence of the mass audience on the media, refuses to recognize the fact that, the opinion leaders (on whom the opinion followers are very dependent), are dependent on the mass media. nonetheless, the mass media is not so powerful in the realms of this theory, as perceived in the Hypodermic Needle Theory. In effect, the mass audience is still dependent on the mass media, though the power of the media has reduced.
Moreover, this theory highlights the point that, media influence on its audience is reduced. It is indeed reduced. Meanwhile, there is more influence from the opinion leaders on the interpretation of media content.this is due to the fact that, the opinion leaders are well known and respected by the opinion followers and are most likely to interpret media content based on their own personal feelings before transferring the information to the opinion seekers. So, by the time the media content get to the opinion followers, the media content may have lost its value.
This theory shows that, there are three entites involved in the transmission of the content of mass media and they include the mass media itself,
ah yes
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