Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

Audience G325

Question 1b G325

Name: Alex Parr

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

Audience OCR G325 Question 1b

In covering this topic you need to be aware of a broad shift from a perception of a mass audience to one which recognises that, whatever the size of audience, it is made up of individuals. Along with this altered view is a shift in emphasis from what the media do to the audience to an acceptance that audiences bring many different approaches to the media with which they engage. In its earliest form audience theory believed that an audience was a mass, Blumer set out 4 stages First, its membership may come from all walks of life, and from all distinguishable social strata; it may include people of different class position, of different vocation, of different cultural attainment, and of different wealth. ..... Secondly, the mass is an anonymous group, or more exactly is composed of anonymous individuals [Blumer means anonymous in the sense that unlike the citizens of earlier communities, the people who are members of the mass audience for the media do not know each other]. Third, there exists little interaction or change of experience between members of the mass. They are usually physically separated from one another, and, being anonymous, do not have the opportunity to mill as do members of the crowd. Fourth, the mass is very loosely organised and is not able to act with the unity of a crowd. Task 1 1. Do you think the audiences for most media texts do come from all walks of life or do different kinds of people watch very different kinds of programme? Are there any examples of media texts that you can think of that do seem to have audiences of all kinds of people? I would say that most media texts are created to target a specific audience, thus different people are interested and consume different types of media. There are cases where people outside of the target market consume a media text; this can mean that these people could potentially mis-interpret the text, which would not be intended by the media producers. So, therefore maybe unintentionally some media texts are viewed by audiences from all walks of life, however it would be extremely hard to deliberately target everyone from all walks of life intentionally.

2. How much of your media experience occurs when you are on your own and how much when you are with others? Certain types on my own and certain types with others, for example going to gigs and the cinema, however I usually listen to music and watch Netflix on my own.

3. Think back to your genre work, how is your media experienced? My media is experienced on YouTube. 4. Are there any ways in which you share your experiences of the media with other people who werent around when you experienced the text? List as many ways as you share experiences (e.g. msn etc) Twitter, Whatsapp, iMessage, Email, Facebook, Phones, Computers, Word of mouth.

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

The effects/hypodermic model

The original model for audience was the effects/hypodermic model, which stressed the effects of the mass media on their audiences. This model owes much to the supposed power of the mass media - in particular film - to inject their audiences with ideas and meanings. Such was the thinking behind much of the Nazi propaganda that was evident in Triumph of the Will and similar films. It is worth noting that totalitarian states and dictatorships are similar in their desire to have complete control over the media, usually in the belief that strict regulation of the media will help in controlling entire populations. The effects model has several variants and despite the fact that it is an out-dated model it continues to exert influence in present debates about censorship and control in the media. Task 2 Can you think of any examples where the media have been seen to influence public behaviour or have been blamed for an individuals behaviour? WW1/WW2 propaganda posters We need you!, RAF/RM TV adverts. Examples like the Kony propaganda.

Is this influence always negative? The War - Well no, not always. As it united a nation and ultimately led to Britain winning the war. However it did in some forms manipulate society at the time. RAF/RM empowers people to want to get involved. Kony Complete manipulation of the media.

What effect do you hope that your text has on an audience? That it is aesthetically pleasing and compliments the song. Also that it portrays the image and style of the genre.

What would be the incorrect effect and why might this happen with your text? That it is perceived as something that it is not, I.E: a rock song or a mainstream pop song. This may happen, as the potential un-targeted audience that could still consume my media (watch the music video) may not have sufficient knowledge of the genre and musical conventions in general to understand and acknowledge the media.

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

The Frankfurt School

The Frankfurt School developed concerns about the power that modern mass media had to propagandise on behalf of fascism. This has evolved over time to become similar to the effects model albeit a less theoretical variant. This has developed in response to the violent content of certain TV programmes, so far from controlling people the media is bringing about societies moral downfall. Some of the moral watchdogs, or the 'moral majority' as they styled themselves, took issue with TV output that was deemed to be explicitly sexual, too violent or in other ways offensive. Their concerns were for those vulnerable members of the population who could be corrupted as a result of such material. Perhaps the best known of these groups in the UK was the National Viewers and Listeners Association (Mary Whitehouse), which argued that TV was a direct cause of deviant behaviour, especially among the young. The problems with the effects model, in whatever form, have to do with its roots in behaviourist psychology. The behaviourist explanation of human behaviour (Skinner and Pavlov) looks increasingly hard to justify as we have come to develop a fuller understanding of the complexities of human behaviour, which is not predictable nor is it controllable. There are also the difficulties of linking cause and effect in terms of how we engage with media texts. The large numbers of studies that have been done do not prove the case conclusively either way. These range from the Walters and Bandura experiments to studies that count incidents of violence on TV. Other criticisms of this model centre on the stress that it places on the audience as passive, whereas newer models suggest that the audience is much more active than was initially supposed. This model, it seems, is something of an out-dated view of audiences but it is constantly revived by politicians and social commentators when moral panics are generated around issues such as 'video nastys and their influence on children (e.g. the Bulger case) or computer games allegedly damaging literacy skills or contributing to violent behaviour (e.g. the Grand Theft Auto or Man Hunt computer games). Such concerns often try to scapegoat parts of media output as if these were the sole relevant factor in anti-social behaviour. This approach ignores the other factors that work as a mix to influence behaviour i.e. home, school, peers and social interaction. Task 3 You have two weeks to prepare a presentation on The Frankfurt School/Hypodermic Model in relation to a media text of your choice. You must select a text that has featured in the media as a source for wrong and provide us with examples. You must find examples from print and moving image, which relate to this and how it has influenced public behaviour. You must find arguments for an against this model from the press. You must include your own opinion

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

Uses and gratifications

A more recent model of audience is that of uses and gratifications, which suggest that there is a highly active audience making use of the media for a range of purposes, designed to satisfy needs such as entertainment, information and identification. In this model the individual has the power and they select the media texts that best suit their needs and their attempts to satisfy those needs. The psychological basis for this model is the hierarchy of needs identified by Maslow. Among the chief exponents of this model are McQuail and Katz. The main areas that are identified in this model are: a) The need for information about our geographical and social world news and dra b) The need for identity, by using characters and personalities to define our sense of self and social behaviour film celeb c) The need for social interaction through experiencing the relationships and interaction of others soap sitcom d) The need for diversion by using the media for purposes of play and entertainment. Game show and q

Task 4 Place the following genres into their correct category.

The News, East Enders, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, Friends, Horizon, Cribs, Qi, The Bill, Holyoaks, Life On Mars, Im A Celebrity..., House, Escape To The Country, X Factor, Coronation Street,

Information

Identity

Social Interaction

Diversion

The News Horizon

Life On Mars Im a celebrity Escape The Country

East Enders Friends The Bill Holyoaks Coronation Street House

Qi Who wants to be a Millionaire X Factor MTV Cribs

Which of the above programmes might be guilty of employing the Hypodermic Model and which therefore might also reflect Blumers views on audience?

The News in particular may be guilty of employing the Hypodermic Model, only regulated media will be broadcasted to the masses, for instance if a live interview or report becomes perceptually to de-stressing for mass viewing then it is not uncommon for BBC/SKY news to cut off the broadcast mid-way through. This ultimately manipulates what society see and can be linked with the way that we act and interpret current affairs.

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

The active audience

More recent developments still suggest that there is a decoding process going on among the active audience who are not simply using the media for gratification purposes. Morley's view of dominant, negotiated and oppositional readings of texts is a semiological approach because it recognises the importance of the analysis of signs, particularly visual signs, that shape so much of modern media output. In this model, at its simplest level, the audience accept or agree with the encoded meanings, they accept and refine parts of the text's meanings or they are aware of the dominant meaning of the text but reject it for cultural, political or ideological reasons. Preferred/dominant reading The preferred reading is the reading media producers hope will take from the text. For example, an advertisement for a McDonalds Big Mac is intended to encourage feelings of hunger and a desire to buy a McDonalds. Assuming the majority of the audience share this reaction then this is also the dominant reading. Oppositional reading Audience members from outside the target audience may reject the preferred reading, receiving their own alternative message. The health-conscious, anti-globalisation campaigners and vegetarians will most likely respond to the McDonalds advert with frustration and annoyance. Negotiated reading The third way is one in which audiences acknowledge the preferred reading, but modify it to suit their own values and opinions. A negotiated response to the McDonalds advert might be I love Big Macs but one a month is enough as they arent good for me.

Task 5
Look at this image below and identify the preferred/dominant reading, oppositional reading and negotiated reading. It may be easier to assume what you, your siblings and your parents might think of it. Preferred: Blender! magazine want the audience to view the pussycat dolls as cool, attractive and thus commercially viable. Oppositional The pussycat dolls are a terrible girl group, too skinny, most likely airbrushed and photoshopped. Negotiated They do look cool and attractive, however they are a terribly group and have most likely been air brushed and photoshopped.

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

Mode of address
Still in line with the active audience idea is the concept of mode of address. This refers to the way that a text speaks to us in a style that encourages us to identify with the text because it is 'our' kind of text. For example Friends is intended for a young audience because of the way it uses music and the opening credits to develop a sense of fun, energy and enthusiasm that the perceived audience can identify with. This does not mean that other groups are excluded, merely that the dominant mode of address is targeted at the young. Mode of address can even be applied to entire outputs, as in the case of Channel Four which works hard to form a style of address aimed at an audience which is informed, articulate and in some ways a specialised one. Newspapers, too, often construct their presentation to reflect what they imagine is the identity of their typical readers. Task 6 Select two magazines, one from column A and one from column B and compare the mode of address they have. Print off a front cover for each and annotate them, stick them beneath this table and annotate them highlight all their signs.
A Nuts FHM Stuff Esquire Time NME B Cosmopolitan Heat Hello Good Housekeeping Elle Grazia

Text A NME: NMEs dominant mode of address is 16-30 year olds, it uses white, red, black and white colour schemes predominantly and publishes articles, pictures and interviews of current or past cool artists, and aims there magazine at their perceived audience of musically conscious and active young-ish people/adults. Although this is the preferred/dominant reading audience/ mode of address, readers from outside of NMEs target market will also consume/buy the magazine for various reasons.

Text B Good Housekeeping: The dominant mode of address is probably your traditional stay at home/retired/ working housewife. The magazine includes articles, pictures and interviews involving housekeeping techniques, from cleaning, to cooking to gardening. Albeit not as much as NME, but still so, some readers outside of the target market will still consume/buy the magazine for various reasons too.

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

Task 7
Now take stills/front covers from your own text. Identify the modes of address that they have and how this might appeal to an audience Try and select as many as possible. You should include preferred, dominant reading etc. Think back to genre work and see what generic signs you have used.

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

Task 7 cont.

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

Ethnographic model
The latest research into audience has resulted in an ethnographic model, which means that the researcher enters into the culture of the group and uses questions and interviews to try to understand media engagement from the perspective of the group. What seems to be emerging from this work is a) the focus on the domestic context of reception of media texts b) the element of cultural competence, and finally c) technologies. The first of these stresses the fact that engagement with the media is often structured by the domestic environment because of the domestication of entertainment and leisure. It appears that the home is not a free space and there are issues about finance for purchase of media goods, control of the remote, the gendered nature of watching TV and the 'flow' of TV that fits alongside or within a set of domestic relationships. So TV viewing may not be the concentrated, analytical business that some theorists suggest. The second area is best understood in terms of texts that can be identified as belonging to a genre that has gender appeal. For example, soaps are usually seen to have a strong female bias in viewing audience. There is a selection of competencies that are brought to such texts so knowing about cliff-hangers; the role of the matriarch or the fluid nature of character relationships simply adds to the pleasures associated with the text. Think about the texts that you enjoy and even though you know how a text will be shaped or how it will end these are not barriers to your enjoyment of that text. Competencies even include the very expectations that you have for the text. The male preference for news and more factual forms can be seen as a feature of cultural competence because men occupy more public space than domestic space and therefore feel the need to be aware of the public worlds reflected in such texts. The third area identified relates to the way we engage with the hardware in order to enjoy the output of the media. There seems to be a strong gender divide here with computers and complex technology fitting into the category of 'boys toys'. If present trends in technology continue then there is a real danger that just as our society is dividing along lines of information-rich and information-poor then there will be a further demarcation along gender lines. This explains why schools and TV programmes need to present positive gender representations and good practice that supports females and technological expertise. You will note that many of the lifestyle programmes that are on TV use females in less traditional roles as a way of redressing the balance (think Suzie Perry on the Gadget Show). Overall the shift in the models for audience has gone from mass audience to individual viewer with stress on the active audience rather than the passive model. The level of activity in the implied audience is related to the uses, pleasures, cultural competence, situation and available technology for the particular audience.

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

Task 8.
Using the ethnographic model (try and separate it into the three areas highlighted) evaluate your own text. Have you inadvertently prevented certain audiences from accessing your text? Write your response in the space provided below.

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

Test on Audience Simple fact retention.

1 Another name for the effects model? 2 The Hypodermic model 2 What were the concerns of the Frankfurt School in a) Europe and later in b) America? 10 ?????? 3 What are moral watchdogs? 4
People who took issue with TV output that was deemed to be explicitly sexual, too violent or in other ways offensive. Their concerns were for those vulnerable members of the population who could be corrupted as a result of such material.

4 What does NVLA stand for? 4

National Viewers and Listeners Association (Mary Whitehouse)

5 What kind of psychology is the effects model based on? 10 The belief that strict regulation of the media will help in controlling entire populations? 6 What is the basic problem with the effects model as a way of explaining anti- social or deviant behaviour? 12 There is no hard evidence or study results to suggest that there is a correlation between the mass media exposure (playing video games) and antisocial behaviour. In fact a study by Hagell & Newbum (1994) showed in fact the opposite effect, they examined the exposure and use of such media and technology to young juvenile offenders and normal school children. The results showed that the young juvenile offenders in fact had a much smaller exposure/use to/of the media& technology, thus contradicting and opposing the effects model even more. 7 Who still makes use of the effects model? 4 Journalists and debaters, when trying to reinforce their argument and when discussing a relevant current affair or case of a negative effect of the media on a person. 8 What recent cases have cited this model? 12 When a killing by a young child was committed in the style of murder committed in the video game Man Hunt after playing the game, subsequently the video game was banned in the UK.

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

9 What kind of general perceptions are attributed to the effects model? 6 That there is a correlation between mass media exposure, playing/ watching violent, sexually explicit, morally unaccepted technologies and anti-social behaviour. Also that is may be farfetched and unproven. 10 What kind of psychology is the uses and gratifications model based on? 8
Hierarchy of needs identified by Maslow. Among the chief exponents of this model are McQuail and Katz.

11 What four areas are identified in this model? 16 Information Identity Social Interaction Diversion

12 What does Morley have to say about the way we read texts? 12 David Morley studied audiences of an early evening news programme and argued in his paper The Nationwide work that audiences actively decode meanings from a media text. The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, working under Stuart Hall, expanded on Morleys hypothesis and suggested that meanings were encoded by the producer into the media text and the audiences decodes the meaning from the text. This theory acknowledges that there is a preferred meaning in the text the meaning made by the producer. This meaning is encoded by the codes and conventions of the particular medium to hide the texts own ideological construction. The audience then read, listen or watch the media text and interpret the message. The audiences interpretation is dependent on a number of frameworks outside the text. These include socio/economic frameworks such as class, gender, age education and ethnicity. They include the individuals past experiences and also include previous knowledge and experience of the medium. 13 Explain 'mode of address' with examples. 15 Still in line with the active audience idea is the concept of mode of address. This refers to the way that a text speaks to us in a style that encourages us to identify with the text because it is 'our' kind of text. For example Friends is intended for a young audience because of the way it uses music and the opening credits to develop a sense of fun, energy and enthusiasm that the perceived audience can identify with. This does not mean that other groups are excluded, merely that the dominant mode of address is targeted at the young. Mode of address can even be applied to entire outputs, as in the case of Channel Four which works hard to form a style of address aimed at an audience which is informed, articulate and in some ways a specialised one. Newspapers, too, often construct their presentation to reflect what they imagine is the identity of their typical readers.

14 What is meant by the ethnographic study of audience? 6

Mr Smith

G325

Question 1b

This means that the researcher enters into the culture of the group and uses questions and interviews to try to understand media engagement from the perspective of the group. What seems to be emerging from this work is a) The focus on the domestic context of reception of media texts b) The element of cultural competence, and finally c) Technologies.

15 What do we mean by the 'domestic context of reception of media texts'? 8 According to the Ethnographic study, engagement with the media is often structured by the domestic environment. 16 How can we describe some texts as female and others as male? Refer to soaps and news. 8 Texts such as T.V Soaps and glossy magazines are described as female, due to the contents and substance within the text, where as more factual orientated texts such as the news are described as more male. 17 Is technological expertise a relevant factor in our consideration of the way we understand audiences in relation to certain texts? 8 Yes, now a days, if an individual is technologically competent, they are literally clicks away from pretty much any media texts that they desire. This enables them to have a much greater and diverse knowledge of media texts, thus enabling them to understand and decipher certain texts in a more intellectual manor. 18 What is the main shift in emphasis from the effects model to more modern views of audience? 5 That one code is not a tight fit for a whole population, the generic codes of a theory must be more specific in order to be more accurate and relate to more people. Total marks 150