History, Intellectual History and Media Influence

The role that media might play in politically inspired violence remains a pressing issue. One stream of this concern investigates how media have served right-wing populist interests. Thus, while cultivation theory and the cultural indicators project were about more than George Gerbner and violence, the person and the issue still evocatively capture why the models remain relevant. New details about Gerbner’s life reveal the depth of his personal commitment to understanding fascism. The analysis of right-wing authoritarianism and the media’s role therein has been an ongoing feature of cultivation studies. Ultimately, Gerbner and violence remain enlightening points of reference when seeking to appreciate how cultivation theory and the cultural indicators project lead a particular trend in critical mass communication studies and why the models continue to lend valuable insights on how to conceive and examine current questions on intersections between media, culture and politics.