Two Step Flow
Expand the passive audience theory to suggest that people have their interpretations formed by opinion leaders (Trusted members of the community >>> celebrities, influencers)
Audience Theory
Blumler & Katz - Uses & Gratification
The audience is actively using the media to satisfy some of our base social needs;
Diversion: A form of escapism from the stresses and strains of life. Maybe all media falls into this group.
Personal Identity: The media supplies us with role models and ways of understanding our place in society.
Social Relationships:
1) People make connections with performers they see on the screen
2) People form relationships with people in society when discussing the media product
Surveillance: Audiences use the media to gather information.
Audience Theory
How new media has changed audience habits
On-Demand Access: Streaming services / websites let people watch or listen to content whenever they want, instead of following a set TV or radio schedule.
Personalisation: Platforms like Netflix and Spotify suggest content based on what each person likes, making the experience more personal and fun.
Interactive Content: New media often includes things you can click, comment, or share through social media making it easy to join in and interact.
Mobile Consumption: Smartphones and tablets let people watch or listen to media anywhere.
User-Generated Content: Sites like Youtube and TikTok let anyone create and share videos so regular uses can also be content creators.
Multimodal Content: New media mixes text, picture, sound, and video all in one place giving a more engaging experience.
Global Access: The internet lets people access media from all over the world which helps them learn about different cultures.
Social Sharing: Social media makes it easy to spread content like videos, articles, and music easily.
Economic Models: New media has changed how creators earn money. These includes ads, subscriptions, and crowdfunding instead of just traditional sales or TV ads.
Time-shifted Viewing: People can pause, rewind, or skip parts of shows and videos which lets them watch the way they want or when they want.
Passive Audience
Audiences are similar and receive messages from the media without challenging the ideas or pushing back.
Active Audience
Audiences are made up of individuals who choose which messages to accept, and can challenge messages based on personal experience or culture.
Audience Theory
Cultivation Theory - George Gerbner
Exposure to media over time reinforces existing ideologies.
People often judge others based on what they see in the media. A good example is Donald Trump. The media has shown him in a negative way, calling him rude, dishonest, and a "clown". Because of this, many people now see him that way, even if they don't know him personally.
Desensitisation Theory
Desensitisation occurs when an audience is repeatedly exposed to shocking or violent content. When exposed to similar content in the real world they fail to feel any empathy toward the subject.
Some video games can make children lose empathy. Games like GTA, Call of Duty, and Mortal Kombat have lots of violence. Playing them too much can make kids think hurting others is okay and stop caring about people's feelings.
Social Learning Theory - Albert Bandura
After consuming media, audiences may go on to repeat what they have seen in particular violent acts.
Recently, dangerous challenges on social media go viral because audiences are copying what they see. These famous trends include learning how to pass out / black out, eating detergent pods, and challenging yourself to do daily life with a blind fold on.
Audience Theory
Reception Theory - Stuart Hall
A media text has a message which is encoded with meaning. The audience decodes the meaning to understand the message. The message a producer want you to receive is called the:
DOMINANT READING
However, audiences are not the same, and so do not receive the message in the same way. Factors such as gender, age, race, income, culture etc. can chance how the audience decodes the text.
DOMINANT READING: The intended message of the producer
OPPOSITIONAL READING: A complete rejection of the message by the audience.
NEGOTIATED READING: Somewhere in the middle. The audience may agree with certain parts of the message but disagree with other parts.
Hall argued that the original subject has no fixed meaning. The media gives meaning to events / people / groups AFTER the occurrence. Something only has meaning once it is represented in the media (and owners of the media have an agenda)
MEDIA DOESN'T REFLECT MEANING. MEDIA CREATES MEANING.
When a representation is repeated enough in the media, it becomes a stereotype. Stereotypes occur in the media due to lack of diversity in the writing room / production.
Counter Types
A representation that contrast / opposes the traditional media representation.
This is a good example because it breaks stereotypes. Media often shows disable people as weak, but this shows they can be strong and powerful.
Audience Theory
Changes in Audiences
Shift from Passive to Active Consumption | Audiences are no longer passive recipients of media content. They engage with, critique, and share media, often influencing its meaning and distribution. |
Participatory Culture | Highlights how digital technologies allow audiences to contribute to and co-create media, blurring the line between producers and consumers |
User-Generated Content | Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram have empowered individuals to produce and share their own content, reducing reliance on traditional media outlets. |
Audience Fragmentation | The rise of niche media means audiences are no longer mass groups consuming the same content; instead, they are smaller, specialized groups with diverse tastes and preferences. |
Decline of Media Gatekeepers | Traditional media producers no longer have full control over what content is distributed or how it is interpreted. Social media and other platforms allow anyone to share their perspectives, bypassing traditional gatekeepers. |
Changing Values | Many societies have become more aware of social issues such as sexism and racism, as well as health concerns. These have had an effect on the type of representations and narratives that are created in the media. |
Globalised audienced | The internet has connected audiences worldwide, enabling content to reach and resonate with global audiences. Media is now designed to appeal to international markets, and provide them with a space to connect with one another, no matter their location |
Reflection: This was an easy task but still very tiring the do. I finished it during my free time because some of my classes turned into free periods. It should've been a quick task, but since I was also busy with other blogs, I decided to work on it only when I had extra free time and nothing else to do. This helped me understand how audiences accept media, use dominant reading in my characters, and choose Better ways to promote my product through theories.
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