Media Audiences

Media Audiences

1. Media Effects

   • Cultivation Theory
     • Give a more realistic view on the effect of the mass media on audiences, and changed the view on hypodermic needle theory. Over time constant exposure 'cultivates' audience's perception of reality and certain media products interconnect to construct a particular view on the world,e.g. Crime news reports, crime drama. Key terms: Mainstreaming: different audiences get same ideas because of the constant exposure they get on media. Mean world index: most people look out for themselves, you cant be too careful with people, most people will take advantage of you. Cultivation differential: The percentage difference in views between light and heavy TV users. Resonance: when viewers can relate and associate the media they watch with current life situations affecting them.
   • Uses and Gratifications
     • Theorised by Jay Blumler and Elihu Katz. It is an active theory. Suggests that we all use the media differently.Famously divides into four main groups. Diversion: correlates with most people’s understanding of the mass media as a form of escapism from the stresses and strains of daily life. Personal Identity: media was believed to supply people with role models and ways of understanding their own place in society. Social relationships: many people seemed to gain an element of sociability through the media. People discussed television shows with each other, giving the act of viewing a socially cohesive function. People often showed an enthusiasm and liking for particular presenters and performers and enjoyed the sense of familiarity they felt with them. Surveillance: mass media contributed to people being informed about the world through the viewing of news and current affairs and the consumption of documentary programmes as well as keeping up to date with entertainment trends
   • Hypodermic needle Theory
     • Created in the 1930's,Brought about by two men, Harold Laswell and Walter Lippmann, it’s the idea that the media is a needle injecting ideas into you while you are completely passive, radically and instantly changing reactions. EG.Arrival of a train At La Ciotat: showing how the media directly affects people, panic and chaos over a train arriving in cinema footage.
   • Moral Panic
     • Created by Stanley Cohen in 1972 in a book called Folk Devils and Moral Panics it was an Effect theory. First is Concern over an issue. Then Hostility where an issue is perceived as a threat. Next is Consensus where the story of the issue is presented in a way suggesting everyone agrees. After is Disproportionality where the facts about the issue are distorted and misrepresented to be contextualised properly. And finally Volatility where the issue is seen as one that can flare up at short notice and affect everyone.
   • Social Learning Theory
     • Every child who observed an adult act violently replicated almost the same behaviour and when watching the same sex, actions were more closely monitored. Example: Jamie Bulger's death. When the experiment was repeated using a television, the results were the same, indicating behaviour is copied and learnt, not developed naturally. As a child develops they learn other skills such as empathy.

2. Reception Theory

   • Reception theory is an active theory. Different audiences will not respond in the same way to media texts because each person brings a different part of themselves( Conceptual map). He states that texts are Polysemic. Three response types to the texts were: Dominant reading; common response and the most preferred reading by the producer Negotiated reading; the audience partially accepts and partially rejects the media text. Vary from person to person possibly based on previous experiences. Oppositional reading; audience will completely reject the text because of conflict with values or ideologies they hold or simply a matter of personal taste.