Media Audiences

Question 1

Bandura - Media Effects

Answer 1

• Media can influence people directly

- Representation of aggressive or violent behaviour can lead to imitation

Question 2

Gerbner - Cultivation Theory

Answer 2

• Exposure to TV over long periods of time cultivates standardised roles and behaviours
• Heavy viewers more likely to develop ‘mean world syndrome’
• Heavy viewing leads to ‘mainstreaming’ - a common outlook on the world based on images and labels on TV

Question 3

Hall 2 - Reception Theory

Answer 3

Hall’s ‘encoding-decoding’ model argued that media producers encode ‘preferred meanings into texts but these texts may be read by audiences in a number of different ways:

1. Dominant-hegemonic position: accepts preferred reading and the ideological assumptions behind the messages
2. Negotiated position: Reader accepts ideological assumptions but disagrees with aspects of the messages, so negotiates meaning to fit with ‘lived experience’
3. Oppositional reading: the reader rejects both overt messages and its underlying ideological assumptions.

Question 4

Jenkins - Fandom

Answer 4

• Fans act as ‘textual poachers’ - taking elements from media texts to create their own culture
• Development of ‘new’ media has accelerated ‘participatory culture’ in which audiences are active an d creative participants rather than passive consumers
• Convergence as a cultural process rather than a technological one.

Question 5

Shirky .- ‘End of Audience’ Theories

Answer 5

• Every consumer is now a producer in ‘new media’
• This means producers now ‘publish then filter’ rather than ‘filter then publish’
• Amateur producers have different values, more empathy etc which creates emotional connection between people who care about something
• ‘Old media’ created a singular audience, ‘New media’ creates a platform for people to provide value for each other e.g: wikipedia cognitive surplus or things like FITW