The DOI matches its Crossref record; 4 of the 4 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A Theory of Media Power and a Theory of Media Use: Different Stories, Questions, and Ways of Thinking
Abstract
In this article, I compare the assumptions, concepts, and propositions of media system dependency (MSD) theory and uses and gratifications (U&G) theory at the microlevel of analysis. The epistemological origins of these theories are situated within the differing social and personal contexts that affected their development. Those MSD assumptions that serve as background to this comparison are specified, and major hypotheses concerning the social ecology of microeffects processes are discussed, particularly as they pertain to public opinion concerns. Following this elaboration of MSD theory, basic differences between MSD and U&G conceptions of the audience, interpersonal networks, the media system, and the nature of media power are addressed. I conclude with a brief comment on the implications of the Internet for theorizing micro media effects.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
On the Use of the Mass Media for Important Things
Katz, E., Haas, H., & Gurevitch, M. (1973) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2094393 · Cited by 1,639
The Role of Theory in Uses and Gratifications Studies
Blumler, J. G. (1979) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365027900600102 · Cited by 904
Ritualized and Instrumental Television Viewing
Rubin, A. M. (1984) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.1984.tb02174.x · Cited by 679
THE ORIGINS OF INDIVIDUAL MEDIA-SYSTEM DEPENDENCY: A Sociological Framework
BALL-ROKEACH, S. J. (1985) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365085012004003 · Cited by 493
Self-citation
Cited by
Communication, Context, and Community: An Exploration of Print, Broadcast, and Internet Influences
SHAH, D. V., McLEOD, J. M., & YOON, S.-H. (2001) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365001028004005 · Cited by 512
Exploring the Digital Divide: Internet Connectedness and Age
LOGES, W. E., & JUNG, J.-Y. (2001) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/009365001028004007 · Cited by 414
Civic Engagement From a Communication Infrastructure Perspective
Kim, Y.-C., & Ball-Rokeach, S. J. (2006) · Communication Theory · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2006.00267.x · Cited by 353
Self-citationFactors Influencing Information credibility on Social Media Platforms: Evidence from Facebook Pages
Li, R., & Suh, A. (2015) · Procedia Computer Science · doi:10.1016/j.procs.2015.12.146 · Cited by 225
“The general level of medium dependency on a specific Facebook page was measured using the modified 6 items based on Medium Dependency Theory [43, 4 8].”
BackgroundMethodJiang, Q. (2014) · Internet Research · doi:10.1108/intr-01-2013-0004 · Cited by 127
Metadata
- Authors
- Ball-Rokeach, S. J.
- Venue
- Mass Communication and Society
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1998-01
- Volume
- 1
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 5-40
- ISSN
- 1520-5436 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7825
- OpenAlex
- W2045278998
- Cited by
- 280
- References
- 4
- FWCI
- 23.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: A Theory of Media Power and a Theory of Media Use: Different Stories, Questions, and Ways of Thinking. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1080/15205436.1998.9676398
- The paper
- Ball-Rokeach, S. J. (1998). A Theory of Media Power and a Theory of Media Use: Different Stories, Questions, and Ways of Thinking. Mass Communication and Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.1998.9676398
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.