Final answer:
The Hypodermic Needle Theory is the one that suggests audiences will believe anything told to them by the media. This theory advocates that media has a direct and powerful influence on audiences' beliefs. Option a is correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
The theory that suggests that audiences will believe anything told to them by the media is called the Hypodermic Needle Theory. This theory, which emerged in the 1920s, implies that the media forcefully injects information into a passive audience's mind, and as a result, the audience readily accepts and believes that information.
This concept was influenced by the work of Walter Lippmann, who posited that media narratives could become a part of citizens' frame of reference, thus shaping their perceptions and decisions.
However, subsequent studies in the 1930s and 1940s led to emergence of the Two Step Flow Theory and the concept of the minimal effects theory. These theories suggest that media influence was often mediated by personal influence and that the media's effect on people's opinions was limited. Later on, the cultivation theory took root in the 1970s, proposing that frequent media exposure shapes our reality and norms based on the images and messages portrayed.
Despite these varying theories, today's media landscape is complex, with multiple factors influencing how individuals receive and interpret media messages, a consideration the Elaboration Likelihood Model takes into account by describing the dynamics of persuasion.