Public attention to social problems swings in patterned waves that media amplify

Evidence

Where controversial issues are concerned, there are always distinct patterns and swings in the structure of public attention. This is the “social visibility” or “social history” of social problems. Broadcasting, like the other mass media, exhibits this pattern to a striking degree. The issue was first focused in the setting of Germany in the 1930s. It concerned the use of propaganda to legitimate and win consent for fascism among the German people. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 842

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s prior material on communication theory, especially the concern over one-way transmission in ‘The Bias of Communication’ tradition and media effects debates. — connects to: Media shifts made politician scrutiny constant and pushed structural issues to the background — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 598
• DEFINE: Defines the concept of the ‘social visibility’ or ‘social history’ of social problems as patterned attention swings.