Writers such as US psychologist Leon Festinger (in the '50s) and David Denver (in the 80s) argued that media
influence was limited by three processes:
(1) Selective exposure:
Individuals generally choose to be exposed to
newspapers and television programmes that
reflect, rather than challenge, their outlook.
(2) Selective perception:
Individuals mentally edit the media that they are exposed to,
filtering out content that doesn't fit with their own ideas
(3) Selective retention:
People tend to forget programme and newspaper content that
challenges the views that they hold, while retaining material that
can be used to justify their position.