Walter Lippmann wrote his Public Opinion at a time when something like the \'mass media\' was coming into existence. 1939 was, after all, a long way off..
If this merited any mention in any newspaper, it is doubtful that no expert paid it any mind.
In 1924, a certain Adolf Hitler would be spending time in jail.
Lippmann wrote Public Opinion in 1922, shortly after World War I.
Each allowed a small group of people the ability to manage a much larger group, inspiring optimism among liberals and progressives that with the right forumula, the horrors seen in World War I would never occur again.
The school system, the advent of radio, and of course, the television, were arriving or coming along shortly.
Lippmann, however, believed that in the hands of super-intelligent, disinterested, omni-benevelont \'experts, \' the \'mass media\' could bring about world peace.
In World War I, he saw how opportunistic nations used the newspapers to serve their often nefarious aims.
Prior to the age of electronic communication, the only mechanism for reaching large numbers of individuals was the newspapers.
Walter Lippmann wrote his Public Opinion at a time when something like the \'mass media\' was coming into existence
