Lazarsfeld's map of media effects

It is a distortion to allege that Paul Lazarsfeld's view of the media focus ed narrowly on campaigns' and their limited influence. Apart from the creat ive impulse of this work, which led to the incorporation of audience select ivity and interpersonal relations into the design of effects research, the fact is that most of his work on the media-and certainly his conception of their functions and effects-extends far beyond short-run changes of opinion and attitude. Moreover, his concept of 'reinforcement' is a major link to the central argument of critical theory that the media reinforce the status quo. Re-reading a paper Of 1948 reveals Lazarsfeld's 'map' of media effect s, which can serve as an agenda for media research-even today. A suggestion is made for adding additional dimensions to his map.