Relationships between the media, content, presentation, and audiences Flashcards
What is the relationship between media, content, presentation, and audiences?
It examines how media messages are created, shaped, and interpreted by audiences, considering factors like content design, presentation style, and audience interaction.
What is the hypodermic syringe model?
A theory that assumes media messages are directly ‘injected’ into a passive audience, leading to immediate and uniform effects on their behavior or beliefs.
What evidence supports the hypodermic syringe model?
Propaganda campaigns, such as Nazi Germany’s use of media to control public opinion, support this model. Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment also indicates that observed behaviors can influence actions.
What are criticisms of the hypodermic syringe model?
It underestimates audience agency and assumes uniform responses, ignoring individual interpretations and social context.
What is Gerbner’s cultivation theory?
Cultivation theory suggests that long-term exposure to media shapes how audiences perceive reality, e.g., heavy TV viewers may believe the world is more dangerous (‘mean world syndrome’).
What is the two-step flow model of communication?
Katz and Lazarsfeld propose that media messages are filtered through opinion leaders, who interpret and pass on the information to others, making media influence indirect.
How do opinion leaders affect media influence?
Opinion leaders play a mediating role, influencing how others interpret and respond to media content.
What is the uses and gratifications theory?
A theory emphasizing that audiences are active participants who use media to satisfy specific needs, such as entertainment, information, or social interaction.
What are the key needs identified by Blumler and Katz (1974)?
- Diversion: Escapism from daily life.
- Personal relationships: Media as a substitute for companionship.
- Personal identity: Reinforcement of personal values.
- Surveillance: Gaining information about the world.
What is Hall’s encoding/decoding model?
Hall argues that producers encode intended messages into media content, but audiences may decode it in dominant, negotiated, or oppositional ways, depending on their context and beliefs.
What are dominant, oppositional, and negotiated readings?
Dominant: Audience accepts the intended meaning.
Oppositional: Audience rejects the intended meaning.
Negotiated: Audience partly accepts and partly rejects the message.
What is Baudrillard’s concept of hyper-reality?
Baudrillard suggests that media creates a simulated reality that replaces the real, making it difficult for audiences to distinguish between fact and fiction.
How do postmodernists view media-audience relationships?
They argue that audiences are no longer passive; they are ‘prosumers’ who create and share content, blurring the line between producer and consumer.
How has new media transformed media-audience relationships?
New media enables interactivity, participation, and user-generated content, allowing audiences to have greater influence on media content and production.
What does Jenkins (2006) argue about participatory culture?
Jenkins highlights that audiences now engage in creating and distributing media, challenging traditional top-down communication models.
What is agenda-setting theory?
Agenda-setting theory suggests that the media doesn’t tell people what to think but rather what to think about, by prioritizing certain topics in coverage.
What is media framing?
Framing involves presenting information in a specific way to shape audience perceptions and interpretations of an issue.
What are criticisms of cultivation theory?
Critics argue it doesn’t account for varying audience interpretations and fails to address other factors influencing perceptions, such as personal experiences.
What are criticisms of the uses and gratifications approach?
It focuses too much on individual choices, ignoring broader structural influences like media ownership and power dynamics.
What role does media regulation play in audience relationships?
Regulation aims to protect audiences from harmful content and maintain fairness, though it can also limit freedom of expression.
What do Livingstone and Lunt (1994) argue about media regulation?
They suggest that regulation must balance consumer choice and protection, which is increasingly challenging in the digital age.
