ACTIVE AUDIENCE MODELS

Question 1

Use and Gratifications model

Answer 1

• uses and gratifications model suggests that the audience is an active agent when using the media as they are using it for their own purpose and to satisfy their needs.
• gratification model discusses ‘what people do with the media’ meaning they do not directly discuss media effects.
• Active audience theorists argue that individual characteristics may influence how and why people access the media to gratify their needs.
• These could be base on social class, gender, ethnicity and age

Question 2

Zillman

Answer 2

• A person’s mood may influence media choice
• boredom might encourage the choice of exciting content, whereas stress might encourages the choice of relaxing content
• Explains that the same tv programme may satisfy the needs of individuals differently
• These different needs are associated with individual personalities, stages of maturation, backgrounds and social roles

Question 3

McQuail

Answer 3

• following categories of common reasons for media use:
• information
• personal identity
• integration and social interaction
• entertainment

Question 4

information

Answer 4

• mquail
• finding out about relevant events, seeking advice on practical matters or opinions and decisions, satisfying curiosity and general interests, learning, gaining a sense of security through knowledge.

Question 5

Personal identity

Answer 5

• mcquail
• reinforcement for personal values, finding models of behaviour, identifying with valued others in the media, gaining insight into oneself.

Question 6

Integration and social interaction

Answer 6

mcquail

• gaining insight into circumstances of others, identifying with others, finding a basis for conversation, having a substitute for real life companionship, helping to carry our social roles, enabling one to connect with family, friends and society

Question 7

entertainment

Answer 7

• mcquail
• escaping or being diverted from problems, relaxing, getting cultural or aesthetic enjoyment, filling time, emotional release, sexual arousal

Question 8

Hall

Answer 8

Coding/Decoding model

Question 9

Coding/Decoding model

Answer 9

• people make sense of media texts and claimed audiences were active not passive.
• importance of examining code and decoding of media texts:
• Coding
• Decoding
• suggests that there are different possible ways of ‘reading’ a media passage
• It is clear that:
• An active audience engages, interprets and responds to a media text in different ways and is capable of challenging the idea encoded in it.
• A passive audience is more likely to accept the messages encoded in a media text without challenge and are therefore more likely to be directly affected by the messages.

Question 10

Coding

Answer 10

• hall
• media messages are produced or coded by media professionals in ways that support the power structures of society

Question 11

decoding

Answer 11

• hall
• argues that the audiences are able to understand, and decode these messages in a way that reflects their social background and ideas

Question 12

different possible ways of ‘reading’ a media passage:

Answer 12

• Dominant or hegemonic reading
• The negotiated reading:
• The oppositional reading

Question 13

Dominant or hegemonic reading

Answer 13

• hall
• the audience takes in the meaning that media professionals intent: they ‘believe the message’

Question 14

The negotiated reading

Answer 14

• hall
• the audience mixes the dominant reading with alternative ideas and the meaning is slightly altered in relation to that intended by media professionals

Question 15

The oppositional reading:

Answer 15

• hall
• the audience constructs a meaning that is totally different to the dominant reading intended by media professionals.

Question 16

klapper

Answer 16

Selective Filter Model

Question 17

Selective Filter Model

Answer 17

• Klapper developed the selective filter model and argued that audiences are not passive receptors of media propaganda but that the media reinforces already held beliefs and attitudes
• stated that for a media message to have any effect, it must pass through 3 filters:

Question 18

3 filters that the media messages have to go through to have an effect

Answer 18

• selective exposure
• ## selective perception

Question 19

SELECTIVE EXPOSURE

Answer 19

• the audience must choose to view, read or listen to the content of specific media. Media messages can have no effect if no one sees or hears them.
• However, what the audience chooses to access depends upon their interests, education, work commitments etc.
• the audience has a choice to engage with the media they are exposed to.

Question 20

SELECTIVE PERCEPTION

Answer 20

• the audience may not accept the message; some people may take notice of some media content, but decide to reject or ignore others.
• For example, a smoker may reject an anti-smoking message in favour of other messages.