ABSTRACT
One of the biggest debates about the social impact of the media – perhaps the debate – can be boiled down to one question: does the mass media have a significant amount of power over its audience, or does the audience ultimately have more power than the media? It is, perhaps, not very sensible to consider the matter in such extreme, polarised terms, but we shall put that thought to one side temporarily, because it is at least instructive to consider both sides of the debate in their most clear-cut form.
