Transforming the news: Walter Lippmann and public opinion.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25267/Rev_estud_socioeducativos.2023.i11.17Info
Authors
- Andrea Lombardinilo Universidad de Chieti-Pescara (IT)
Abstract
In Public Opinion (1922) Walter Lippmann attentively focuses on the construction of public opinion at the beginning of twentieth century, with particular regard to the technological speed up of World War I. The political relevance of newspapers highlights the functional shifts of public opinion within urban scenarios and the transformation of information via the increasing diffusion of entrenched stereotypes, nationalistic symbols, popular legends and myths. Lippman’s book critically demonstrates that stereotypes, symbols and myths played a significant civil role in the years that announce Italian and German of totalitarianism, in conjunction with the spread of nationalistic rhetoric, propaganda techniques and informative persuasion. The search of mass consensus is tasked with the rhetorical paradigms shaping the journalistic discourse through the exploitation of shared metaphors, myths and symbols. This is why Lippmann’s legacy can specifically found in th critical analysis of the social impact of reporters and press agents ahead of the electric fallout of recent decades in order to detect the stereotypes inspiring the public discourse on global information.
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