Death as a Condition for Life? Reply to Bernard Berelson's "The State of Communication Research"

in 1959 bernard berelson published his famous text "the state of communication research", in which he radically states the death of this field. the reactions were swift, and authors like schramm, riesman and bauer replied to berelson's text defending the vitality of the field of communication and disqualifying his diagnosis. today, however, it could be useful to reconsider berelson's sentence in order to understand what particular field was vanishing. the death sentence pronounced by berelson, beyond expressing the state of the field of communication in the 50s, reveals some fundamental questions about communication research in general; questions that many have assumed to be resolved but which may be more relevant today than ever.