Remembering two friends, reexploring two books

Personal influence & Media events

Abstract

This essay is about two close friends of mine, Elihu Katz and Todd Gitlin. It offers a re-exploration of two books: Personal influence and Media events. Starting with Media events (1992), I ask whether it extends the thrust of Personal influence or detracts from it to the point of sometimes contradicting it. Then I move to Personal influence (1955) and look at the circumstances of its writing and reception. Since I was a child when the book came out, I rely on the impressive volume that The Annals of American Political and Social Science devoted to its genesis. This volume includes strong critiques, and I discuss many of them, including the most radical ones. Yet there are many reasons why I believe the book to be no less important today than when it came out. I also suggest that, despite their famous feud, my two friends sometimes agreed.