Abstract
The communication model presented by Harold Lasswell in 1948, is one of the most important of the twentieth century. Concepts of the psychological theories were applied to him and it was organized around two basic themes of his investigation: analysis of the contents and analysis of the effects. His study opened space for several research sectors to appear, such as content analysis, effects analysis, audience analysis and control analysis. The overcoming of the hypodermic theory occurred when one began to analyze the individual as being more important than the group. After more than seven decades, we find out that Lasswell’s model is still remembered in certain moments nowadays. First of all, as the basis of journalistic writing. Today, at a time when social media demonstrates that information is more quickly transmitted, Lawssell’s model is still applied. See the case of Charlottesville, in August 2017 (more circumscribed to US national context, and long before the George Floyd’s worldwide case, in April 2021), as the tweets published by opinion leaders, such as Obama or Trump, demonstrated how their messages stuck with the effects produced by those who read them. In fact, the interventions of Donald Trump (2017-21), at the time of the facts President of the United States of America, as well as attention brought to the case by Barack Obama, former US Head of State (2009-17) and senators and politicians, showed how the American racial problem is still an open wound, as visible in the effect produced by their messages.
Presenters
Paulo Bruno AlvesProfessor, Arts and Communication, Viseu Higher School of Education - Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Viseu, Portugal
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Harold Lasswell, Media Theory, Hypodermic Theory, Mass Communication, Propaganda
