active model Flashcards
what are active audience approaches
argue that media content does not automatically lead to imitation or sensitiation
critical of hypodermic syringe model because of assumption that audiences are homogenous - audiences have very different social features so different reactions
two-step flow model
Katz and Lazerfield
- opinion leaders - people with influence because other members of social networks listen to them
- media content goes through 2 steps before it has an effect on the audience
1. opinion leader is exposed to the media content and forms their own opinion and interpretation
2. opinion leader disseminates their interpretation of that content and those who respect the opinion leader are influenced by their interpretation - may pass opinion onto others - not directly influenced - opinion leaders are active
two-step flow model - eval
strengths
- empirical evidence - Katz and Lazarfield - effects of mass communication in election in 1940 presidential election campaign - only 5% of voting behaviour due to media messages - more change likely due to interactions with opinion leaders
- model useful as focuses on media audiences and what they do with messages
limitations
- simplistic to suggest active opinion leader and passive follower - people can be opinion leader on some matters and not others
- depends on context - 1940s - opinion leaders more influential due to limited access to information
- rise of new media - role of opinion leaders becomes less influential - people receive diversity of mediated messages from new media
selective filter model
Klapper - 3 filters for media message to have effect
- selective exposure - must choose to view content
- selective perception - may decide to reject content
- selective retention - must stay in the mind - we now live in 3 minute culture - now media
active choice
selective filter model - eval
strengths
- during iraq war - daily mail opposed way and only half of readers against it - people may form own perceptions beyond what the media tells them
- model useful at challenging the hypodermic syringe model that implies audiences are homogenous - individuals do not react in similar was
limitations
- media messages are not isolated - repeated and reinforced in order media - cumulative impact - cultural effects
- people are not isolated individuals - belong to cultures and subcultures that provide them with particular ways of looking at the media
uses and gratifications model
Blumler and McQuail and Lull
- model assumes media have the weakest effects and audience is most active
- media audiences are thinking, active and creative and use media for enjoyment - gratifications
diversion, personal relationships, personal identity, surveillance, background wallpaper
uses and gratifications eval
strength
- park et al - empirical evidence to support - web survey - online groups were used to satisfy multiple needs - diversion, personal relationships ect
- theory recognises that different individuals have different uses and gratifications, based on their age, gender or ethnicity
limitation
- marxists - theory exaggerates audience’s freedom to interpret media content in the way they choose - GUMG - agenda is already set by media - difficult to interpret outside of ideological constraints
- focuses too much on use of media by individuals - doesnt allow for the group aspects of media audiences
reception analysis model
Morley - people interpret same media in different ways - researched 29 different groups
- preferred reading - interpret media in way they were encoded and prefer audiences to believe
- oppositional reading - audiences reject dominant reading
- negotiated reading - accept dominant reading but amend it to some extent
reception analysis eval
strengths
- useful for taking into consideration cultural context of media effects
- arguably more sophisticated than previous models - acknowledges the possibility of more than one reading of a media message
limitations
- Morley - research compromised by sample not seeing news programme used in the research in natural environment - demand characteristics ect
- postmodernists - people interact with media differently in specific social situations
marxist cultural effects
recognises media audiences made up of different types of people so interpret in different ways
- argues media content contains strong ideological messages that reflect values of those who own and produce media - most people believe media perspectives are correct leading to false class consciousness
drip-drip effect - socialised through media
Curran - frequent reading of particular newspapers means immersion of reader into particular ideology
marxist cultural effects eval
strengths
- GUMG - research that highlights media has great deal of power in forming the way audiences view the world - iraq war
- 50% journalists come from private schools
limitations
- cultural effects difficult to operationalise and measure
- pluralists question marxist view - professionalism and objectivity of journalists allow for audience to benefit
- postmodernist - too deterministic
postmodernist model
media central to creation of postmodern world - choice and pick n mix
extension of reception analysis theory - pm focus on how individuals create their own meanings
individuals interpretations not fixed - generalisations impossible
Baudrillard - media-saturated society - hyperreality
postmodernist eval
strength
- useful for viewing media audiences as active and media literate individuals
limitations
- postmodernists see meaning as created by audience - losing sign of inherent meanings in construction of media
- marxists and feminists argue postmodernists lose sign of the debate about power
- postmodernists fail to examine different cultural capital and structural differences
should we censor violence
new moral panic about effects of violence
such media is often blames
yes - direct
no - active
methodological problems of researching media violence
difficult to operationalise what constitutes violence
difficult to measure the effects
other studies - lab studies eg Bandura - hawthorne effect and low ecological validity
