Examples Of Media Dependency Theory

The media dependency theory, also known as media systems dependency theory was introduced by Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur in 1976. The theory proposed by Rokeach & DeFleur (1976) states that "the more dependent an individual is on the media for having his or her needs fulfilled, the more important the media will be to that person." Sandra Ball-Rokeach is a currently a professor in the Annenberg School for communication and journalism at the USC, and is the Director of the communications Technology and Community program. Melvin DeFleur is currently a professor at Boston University and received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Washington in 1954. DeFleur has special interests in studying how information is diffused

The theories tend to intertwine. Uses and gratification theory studies how people use media, and become dependent on it. The audience may use media for many reasons for example to seek information, entertainment, sociability etc. The Media Dependency Theory suggests that the more a person becomes dependent on the media to satisfy these needs, the more the media becomes important to the individual. Also, tying the theory to agenda setting, if the individual is so dependent on the media for information, the media will have much more influence and power over the individual making it easy for the media to agenda set. Therefore, the individual may easily fall victim to media Agenda Setting. The theory is based on some assumptions and statements which are: A proposal that there's an integral relationship among audiences, media and the larger social system. Media Dependency theory predicts that an individual depends on media information to meet certain needs and achieve certain goals, same as uses-and-gratifications theory. However, you do not depend on all media

The whole communication was blocked due to this natural disaster, and other people were not able to know the exact effect of the tsunami in eastern Japan. During this period, people's information needs are dramatically increased and they become more dependent on media than any other source of information. Individuals were attracted to the media since the media was able to fulfill the audience's need for information on the tsunami. The social change created by the disaster was high, and the people needed to get information on how to deal with it, hence turning to the media, since it was the only source that could fulfill their