MEDIA
THEORY Ultimate guide to revision
101
MEDIA AUDIENCES
BANDURA Media Effects
Influence of Media
Influence | Behaviour | Imitation
BANDURA Media Effects
Key Ideas
o The media can have a direct influence on the values and behaviour of audiences. o The media can also have an indirect influence through social networks. o Audiences may imitate behaviours they see represented in the media.
BANDURA Media Effects
Applications
Can apply to a wide range of media products; particularly those with a strong message, consistent across platforms. Draws attention to the need to investigate the direct effects on individuals who consume newspapers regularly and LFTVD series. Supports the arguments of those who believe media should be regulated to avoid public harm.
BANDURA Media Effects
Limitations
Factual media products, such as newspapers, maybe less likely to produce copy cat behaviour. In a digital and saturated media landscape, messages are likely to be contradicted across platforms, preventing exposure to a consistent message. Audience involvement also reduces effect of original message. Prioritising the effects of the media on the audience underestimates the effects of the audience on the media. The complex and nuanced representations, such as those in LFTVDs are less likely to cause a direct effect on audiences, because of the level of engagement required to decode.
GERBNER Cultivation Theory
Influence of Media
Influence | Attitudes | Mean World Syndrome | Heavy/Light Viewers | Mainstreaming
GERBNER Cultivation Theory
Key Ideas
o The media can influence the audience over a long period of time. o People who watched a lot of television were likely to have a more negative view of the world than people who did not watch a lot of television; mean world syndrome, a cynical, mistrusting attitude towards others. o People who watched a lot of television were likely to have similar views; the mainstreaming effect, a common outlook on the world.
GERBNER Cultivation Theory
Applications
Can apply to a wide range of media products, particularly those with a strong and consistent message. Especially relevant to LFTVD as original study was exploring the power of television. Draws attention to the need to investigate the longer-term effects on individuals who consume news or LFTVD; subscribers, box-set users or those who consume through narrow sources in a ‘digital bubble’. Supports the arguments of those who believe media should be regulated to avoid public harm. Producers who value negative news or violent representations are possibly creating the belief in the audience that the world is a dangerous place characterised by negative events.
GERBNER Cultivation Theory
Limitations
Possibly less relevant to newspapers where media consumption is rarely deemed ‘heavy’; the theory was also developed before arrival of online media so could be viewed as outdated. In a digital and saturated media landscape, messages are likely to be contradicted across platforms, preventing exposure to a consistent message. Audience involvement also reduces effect of original message. Prioritising the effects of the media on the audience underestimates the effects of the audience on the media. The complex and nuanced representations, such as those in LFTVDs, are less likely to cause an indirect effect on audiences.
HALL Reception Theory
Audience Readings
Encode | Decode | Preferred | Dominant | Oppositional | Negotiated | Reading | Position
HALL Reception Theory
Key Ideas
o Producers encode a preferred meaning through shared codes such as technical codes and genres; familiar signs and symbols. o Audiences respond to the preferred reading in one of three different ways: o accept and adopt a dominant position o reject it adopting an oppositional position o accept some elements but modify aspects to fit their own views or experiences to form negotiated position.
HALL Reception Theory
Applications
Can apply to a wide range of media products, including LFTVD and news. Draws attention to the range of possible audience readings of the messages and values within a product. Acknowledges the power and role of the producer in creating dominant media messages; reinforcing hegemony, for example.
HALL Reception Theory
Limitations
Assumes that there is one dominant meaning to which the audience responds which does not acknowledge the multitude of possible readings; more complex beyond the three positions suggested. Assumes producers have created a dominant reading rather than constructing products with ambiguous messages for a digital age.
JENKNS Fandom
Participatory Media
Participatory Culture | Textual Poachers | Convergence Culture | Spreadable Media
JENKINS Fandom
Key Ideas
o The development of new and digital media allows the audience to be active and creative participants rather than simply passive consumers; participatory culture. o Audience members become textual poachers taking aspects from media texts to create their own content. o Media is shared, adapted, and consumed constantly on a range of different platforms; convergence culture. o Content is adapted by audience members for their own purpose and shared with others; spreadable and viral media.
JENKINS Fandom
Applications
Draws attention to the potentially revolutionary effect of online platforms and participatory culture on media products and the threat this represents to traditional models of production and distribution. Draws attention to how producers increasingly rely on participatory media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to market and distribute content. For example,
disseminating news, which also draws attention to the role of participatory culture in developing citizen journalism. Applies particularly to the range and diversity of representations offered to textual poachers who wish to use products to create their own culture, such as fan sites or forums. LFTVDs may achieve cult status, adding to their value for fans.
JENKINS Fandom
Limitations
Arguably not relevant to print newspapers due to their centralised production. In relation to online news. fandom is less likely to occur due to their type of content and the ethos of professional journalism. This optimistic view of the power of audiences underestimates the power of the oligarchy of media conglomerates to shape and control news and TV content.
SHIRKY End of Audience
New Media
Prosumers | Technology | Internet | Cognitive Surplus | Publish then Filter | Old Media
SHIRKY End of Audience
Key Ideas
o Technological developments have changed the relationship between media producers and audiences. No longer an old media, top down model of centralised producers addressing consumers, through a highly controlled filter then publish model. o New and digital media enables prosumers to create. They have different motivations to professional and traditional producers, in turn creating cognitive surplus, where potentially large numbers of people give their time and expertise to create something (e.g. Wikipedia). o Audiences can no longer be seen as a single mass of people. Fragmented, they engage differently across different platforms, with some creating or adapting media products themselves; creating a publish then filter model.
SHIRKY End of Audience
Applications
Draws attention to the way audiences can provide value for each other by using websites to offer comments, parodies, merchandise and communities. Draws attention to the potentially revolutionary effect of online platforms and participatory culture on media products and the threat this represents to traditional models of production and distribution. Draws attention to how producers increasingly rely on participatory media to distribute content. Also drawing attention to the role of amateur producers in citizen journalism, for example.
SHIRKY End of Audience
Limitations
Arguably not relevant to print newspapers due to their centralised production. In relation to online news. fandom is less likely to occur due to their type of content and the ethos of professional journalism. This optimistic view of the power of audiences underestimates the power of the oligarchy of media conglomerates to shape and control news and TV content. Arguably not relevant in relation to broadcast TV and streaming services do not exactly reflect Shirky’s views insofar as they primarily operate like the ‘old’ media in offering centrally-produced content. Many newspapers have not embraced the publish then filter model of the new media as top newspaper brands rely on their authority as a news brand to sell themselves, so this theory explains less about online newspapers than it would for fully usergenerated online content.
AUDIENCE Bandura Gerbner Hall Jenkins Shirky
MEDIA
THEORY Ultimate guide to revision
101