Topic 5: Relationship between media and audiences

Question 1

A media text

Answer 1

any media product which describes, defines or represents something such as Tv/ radio etc

Question 2

Polysemic

Answer 2

a media text (message/ headline/ picture) can be interpreted in different ways by different people

Question 3

Methodological problems of researching media effects

Answer 3

if it is shown that those who watch more violence on television are more aggressive than those who watch less, this might be because people whose social circumstances have made them more aggressive, choose to watch more violent programmes

Question 4

Media effects models
How passive or active are the audiences?

Answer 4

passive: do they ‘mindlessly’ consume media texts and accept everything thrown at them
active: interpret and criticize media texts - giving them different meanings and interpretations

Question 5

Media effects models
Hoe powerful are the media in affecting audiences?

Answer 5

How influential are the media, if at all, compared to other influences on audience behaviour, such as their own
experiences

Question 6

1.The hypodermic syringe model

Answer 6

• Suggests that media directly injects messages into passive audiences, who accept and act on them without resistance
• media influences behaviour by spreading dominant ideologies, leading audiences to imitate what they see

Question 7

The hypodermic syringe model
Dworkin 1981

Answer 7

Argued that pornography leads to the abuse of women. The model was also used to explain the role of social media in fuelling the 2011 Tottenham/London riots.

Question 8

The hypodermic syringe model
A03

Answer 8

1. The model assumes the entire audience is passive and homogeneous (sharing the same characteristics) and will react in the same way to media content.
2. It assumes audiences are passive, gullible and easily manipulated
   3 It assumes the media have enormous power and influence- overriding all other agencies of socialization and people’s own experiences.

Question 9

2. The two-step flow model
   Katz and Lazarsfeld (1955).

Answer 9

That the media still have quite strong effects on audiences, but they do not simply passively and directly react to media content, and will respond in a variety of ways to it.

Question 10

Opinion leaders

Answer 10

Audience responses are influenced by opinion leaders within their social networks, such as family, friends, colleagues, or peers.
These respected individuals interpret media messages, form opinions, and influence discussions within their groups.

Question 11

The two-step flow model (Steps)

Answer 11

1st: opinion leaders select, interpret and filter media texts before they reach mass audiences, and form their own opinions and interpretations of them
2nd: Opinion leaders then selectively pass on these messages, which contain their own opinions and interpretations, to others in their social groups

Question 12

Two step flow model A03

Answer 12

1. There are probably more than two steps in the media’s influence.
2. It still rests on the basic assumption that the influence of the media flows from the media to the audience-
3. It suggests that people are very vulnerable to influence and manipulation by opinion leaders.
4. It suggests the audience is divided into ‘active’ viewers/readers (the ‘opinion leaders’) and passive’ viewers/ readers who are influenced by the opinion leaders.
5. With the rise of the new media and social networking sites, the role of opinion leaders may be less influential,

Question 13

3. The cultural effects model - the ‘drip drip’ effect

Answer 13

Neo-Marxist cultural effects theory argues that media content is influenced by powerful groups in society and generally reflects the dominant ideology. However, audiences are not passive; they interpret media messages based on factors like social class, gender, ethnicity, and personal experiences. While most people accept media narratives, some may question or reject them

Question 14

Encoding/Decoding and reception analysis

Answer 14

The analysis of how audiences receive and interpret media texts, and therefore
what effects they have on audiences, is known as reception analysis.

Question 15

Encoding/Decoding and reception analysis
Hall (1980)

Answer 15

neo-Marxist perspective, suggests media texts - the content of media messages such as television news and current affairs programmes - are ‘encoded’ by those who produce them,
most audiences will receive and interpret - or decode - media texts containing this dominant
hegemony viewpoint in the way they were intended or encoded,

Question 16

Morley (1999 (1980),

Answer 16

how audiences responded to or decoded media texts in the popular Nationwide BBC1 news programme 1969-1983
1) A preferred (or dominant) reading
2) A negotiated reading
3) An oppositional reading

Question 17

Selective filtering - an Interpretivist approach

Answer 17

Klapper (1960) suggested, like Hall and Morley, that people have
experiences of their own, make choices, and interpret, or decode, and filter what they read, see or hear in
the media. Klapper suggests there are three filters that people apply in their approaches to and interpretations of the media:

Question 18

Selective filtering - an Interpretivist approach (3 filters)

Answer 18

1 Selective exposure. This filter means people must first choose what they wish to watch, read or listen to in the media, and they may choose only media messages that fit in with their existing views and interests.

2. Selective perception. This filter means people will react differently to the same message,
3. Selective retention. This filter means people will forget material that is not in line with their views and interests,

Question 19

The Glasgow Media Group

Answer 19

Philo (2008) of the GMG criticizes the idea that media texts are completely open to audience interpretation. While he acknowledges that audiences can be active and sometimes critical, he argues that media holds significant power in shaping public perceptions

Question 20

Philo (1990) British miners’ strike study (1984/5)

Answer 20

Found that most people, regardless of class or politics, accepted the media’s portrayal of miners as responsible for the violence. Even those sympathetic to the miners were influenced by the dominant media narrative. The only exception was people who had seen a picket line first-hand, who rejected the media’s version of events. Philo concluded that the media strongly shapes public understanding of social issues and that most people rely on traditional news sources to form their views.

Question 21

The cultural effects model highlights:

Answer 21

• The dominant class’s influence on media content, promoting a shared ideology among journalists.
• Media’s biased portrayal favouring the dominant class, but audiences actively interpret content differently.
• Audience responses are influenced by factors like social circumstances, experiences, education, class, values, and beliefs.
• Over time, media significantly shapes people’s views, leading to the acceptance of the dominant hegemonic perspective as common sense.

Question 22

Cultural effect Model A03

Answer 22

• It assumes media personnel like journalists work within the framework and assumptions of the dominant ideology. This fails to recognize that journalists have some independence in their work
• It suggests the audience can, through selective filtering, have some control over their response to media output, but long-term socialization by the media through repetitive messages may limit the ability of audiences to filter those messages,

Question 23

4. The uses and gratifications model

Answer 23

The uses and gratifications model starts with a view that media audiences are thinking, active and creative human
beings, who use the media in various ways for their own various pleasures and interests (gratifications).

Question 24

4. The uses and gratifications model
   McQuail (1972) and Lull (1990, 1995)

Answer 24

• Diversion
• Personal relationships.
• Personal identity:
• Surveillance:
• Background wallpaper: while doing other things.

Question 25

Park et al, 2009:

Answer 25

online groups were used to satisfy multiple needs: - for entertainment and amusement (diversion), - talking and meeting with others to achieve a sense of community and peer support on the particular topic of the group (personal relationships), - maintaining and seeking out their personal status, as well as that of their friends (personal identity) - to receive information about events going on related to the group (surveillance).

Question 26

4. The uses and gratifications model a03

Answer 26

1) The model overestimates the power of the audience to influence media content. It also underestimates the power and influence of the media and media companies to shape and influence the choices people make and the pleasures they derive from the media.

Question 27

Violence and the media (James Bulger Case)

Answer 27

A high-profile example of this was the murder in 1993 of 2-year-old James Bulger by two 10-year-old boys. The judge in the case commented: I suspect that exposure to violent video films may in part be an explanation.' This view was disputed by the police, who said they could find no evidence that videos (Child's Play 3in particular) viewed by the family could have encouraged the boys to batter a toddler to death, or that the boys had even seen the films mentioned. Assertions, like that in the Bulger murder case, that media violence generates real-life violence are commonplace.

Question 28

Newson (1994)

Answer 28

a link between video violence and real-world violence, a link that was allegedly even stronger than the one established between smoking and lung cancer.

Question 29

Anderson et al. (2003)

Answer 29

claimed that research showed indisputably that media violence increased the likelihood of aggressive and violent behaviour, both immediately and in the long term.

Question 30

Violence and the media A03

Answer 30

- Cumberbatch (1994) criticized Newson’s report, calling it speculative and influenced by the press. Similarly, Newburn and Hagell (1995) reviewed over 1,000 studies and found no proven link between media violence and real-world violence, suggesting that violent tendencies in children likely exist independently of media exposure. -Ferguson (2014) researched the effects of violent movies and video games in the U.S., comparing film violence (1920–2005) with homicide rates and violent video game consumption with youth violence over 20 years. He found no long-term link between media violence and real-life violence. In fact, increased on-screen violence and video game play correlated with a decline in societal violence

Question 31

competing claims about the effects of violence in the media

Answer 31

1 Copycattingor imitation. 2 Catharsis. 3. Desensitization. 4. Sensitization. 5. Media violence causes psychological disturbance in some children. 6. The exaggeration of the fear of violence.

Question 32

Methodological problems of researching media violence Livingstone (1996)

Answer 32

any link between media violence and violent behaviour does not mean media violence causes the behaviour. For example, having shown that those who watch more violent television tend to be more aggressive,

Question 33

Livingstone and Ferguson (2014)

Answer 33

media effects models have tried to resolve these issues by using the experimental method of research, with research exposing small samples to media violence in artificial laboratory conditions to see whether they then behave violently.

Question 34

Bandura et al.'s (1961) 'Bobo Doll' experiments

Answer 34

this experimental research (Apart from the ethical issues related to deliberately exposing people, particularly children, to violent imagery to test their reactions to it) there are also several questions about the validity of findings obtained by such experimental research, as well as other problems of research into the effects of violence in the media.

Question 35

1) There is a problem with how 'media violence' is defined in the first place.

Answer 35

Boxing and wrestling, fights, shootings and murders in TV dramas, mass shoot-outs, huge body counts and destruction in Hollywood blockbusters, parents hitting children, cartoon fights, police attacking protesters, and news film of warfare all depict violent scenes, but they may not be seen by researchers in the same way.

Question 36

2) The hypodermic syringe model of media effects underlies much of the research.

Answer 36

doesn't deal with how people interpret what they see, with the context in which they view the violence

Question 37

3. It is almost impossible to avoid the Hawthorne effect

Answer 37

Gauntlett (1998) criticizes experimental studies, such as Bandura et al.'s, arguing that people change their behaviour when they know they are being observed. He suggests that real-life behaviour may differ from research settings, where factors like the observer’s presence, appearance, and gender influence responses, especially in children. Ferguson (2014) adds that in experiments, participants may perceive aggression as researcher-approved, as they are given opportunities to act aggressively.

Question 38

4. Laboratory experiments last for only a short time,

Answer 38

therefore can only measure the immediate effects of media violence in the experimental situation. This doesn't mean these effects are long-lasting

Question 39

5. Laboratory experiments are necessarily small-scale, using small samples.

Answer 39

raises questions over whether the results can be applied to, or generalized to, the whole population.

Question 40

Conclusion on violence and the media

Answer 40

Despite extensive research and methodological issues, there is no clear, undisputed evidence that media violence directly causes aggressive behavior. The simplest conclusion is that we don't really know. Gauntlett (1998) argues that the failure to find direct media effects, even after analyzing hundreds of studies, suggests that such effects may not exist.