Manipulation of the individual by mass media

As social communication becomes economically organized, the individual is increasingly perceived not as a communicator in his or her own right, but as a consumer of a product whose content is determined elsewhere. Messages assume the tone of training from the teachers to the students, admonitions from the knowledgeable to the ignorant, directives from organisers to participants, and so on. The assumption that the traffic should be in one direction often stems from the structure of society itself, and is mixed with goodwill, generosity, integrity and idealism. The results are nonetheless a passive and increasingly uninvolved audience.