AUDIENCE THEORY

BLUMER AND KATZ - USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY

How audiences choose to consume the media.

Audiences watch sad films to connect with feelings and emotions etc.

Audiences watch comedies to have a laugh and to be happy.

 

Passive Audience = Take in what they watch for example the News

Active Audience = Gives the audience choice of what they want to watch.

CONTINUED..

The 'Uses and Gratifications' model represented a change in thinking, as

researchers begin to describe the effects of the media from the point of view of

audiences. The model looks at the motives of the people who use the media,

asking why we watch the TV episodes and programmes that we do, why we

bother to read newspapers, why we find ourselves so compelled to keep up to

date with our favourite soap operas, or consume films.

•The theory makes the audience active as they choose what they want to

consume, they are not forced into consumption. For example, you are in

control, the media just creates the product.

This theory believes the audience has social and psychological needs which

generate certain expectations. The audience control media not the other way

round.

The model is broken down into four different

components:

1. SURVEILLANCE

Surveillance is based around the idea that people

feel better having the feeling that they know what is

going on in the world around them. (We watch the

news as we feel it is a reliable source) All about

awareness - we use mass media to be more aware of

the world, gratifying a desire for knowledge.

2. PERSONAL IDENTITY -

Explains how being a subject of the media allows us

to confirm the identity of ourselves within society.

Media can form personal identities which can be

seen in music videos/ films. Pop stars can become

role models, but leads to outcry when one does

something wrong. Music videos/songs allow us to

connect with such identities and help us fit into

society.

3. PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS -

- Within the media

We can form a relationship with the media and also use the media to form

a relationship with others

People use TV as a form of companionship which creates an intimate

experience

Having a favorite TV programme in common can often be the start of a

conversation

Some families use sitting around watching TV as a stimulus for

conversation, talking to each other about the programmes or related

anecdotes.

4. DIVERSION -

Diversion describes what is commonly termed as

escapism for example watching the TV so we can

forget about our own lives. We watch music videos to

take our mind off our everyday lives, we want to

distract our self from the problems we are

experiencing.

STUART HALL - RECEPTION THEORY

This theory states the media texts are encoded by producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the

product with values and messages. Texts then are decoded by the media.

Producer encodes the meaning/message and the audience become:

• Dominant/Preferred

• Negotiated

• Oppositional

Dominant -

View media texts the way the producer intended and there agree with it.

Negotiated -

Compromise between dominant and oppositional, they see it from the producers point of view, but also they

are own.

Oppositional -

Rejects the preferred reading and creates their own reading of the text.