Digital Media: Media and Audiences

Media Influences
Hypodermic Syringe Model
Explanation
The hypodermic syringe model has the view that the media has the ability to mesmerise, influence and even control its
audiences has its roots firmly in the early 20th century. Then new communication technology in the form of moving pictures,
the gramophone and radio expanded the mass media previously occupied by newspapers.
Argument/Example For: Argument/Example Against:
An example that would support the theory would be This model may have been true in the 1940s when the media was
the case of Jamie Bulger. He was a two year old toddler relatively new and audiences less literate, but in today’s new media
who was abducted and murdered by two 10 year old age, audiences are more likely to criticise what they see rather than
boys; Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. The boys just believing it. An example of this argument would be “People’s
had apparently watched ‘child’s play 3’ before they Choice” is a study conducted in 1940 by Lazarsfeld about the
murdered the toddler. As Bulger’s death was very election campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which found that only
similar to a death in the film, newspapers such as ‘the few specific messages are injected to the audience by media. People
sun’ began to fuel the debate as to whether such are more influenced by interpersonal communication.
violence in the media should be accepted.
Passive Audience Theory
Explanation
The earliest idea was that a mass audience is passive and inactive. The members of the audience are seen as couch potatoes
just sitting there accepting media texts – particularly commercial television programmes. It was thought that this did not
require the active use of the brain. The audience accepts and believes all messages in any media text that they receive. This is
the passive audience model. They accept the preferred reading and don’t question it.
Argument/Example For: Argument/Example Against:
Orson Wells’ 1938 radio play was a Halloween special An example of an argument against this theory would be the fact in
and was adapted from H.G. Wells novel of the same 2019, a study was done by Oxford university is not the causes of
name. Some of the show’s listeners only caught the violence and the effects of violent games had proven to have no
section of the show and did not hear the disclaimers correlation. They stated that ‘the idea that violent game drive real-
played at the beginning, the middle and the end of the world aggression is a popular one but the research has not
show and took the ‘news bulletins’ they were hearing demonstrated that there is a cause for concern”.
to be real. The result was wide spread panic.
Cultivation Theory
Explanation
This theory suggests that repeated exposure to the same message – such as an advertisement – will have an effect
on the audience’s attitudes and values. It suggests that we will become inured to violence because we keep seeing
war on TV or rush out and buy a product because it is always being advertised wherever we look. Try flipping
between channels during ad breaks. It is interesting how often the same product is appearing at the same time.
Argument/Example For: Argument/Example Against:
The famous Bobo doll experiment studied in Critics argue that the theory’s use of total television viewing,
psychology (carried out by Albert Bandura), rather than particular genres, makes the mistaken assumption
proved that children imitate the observed violent that television viewers are television violence viewers per se.
behaviour that was carried out by the Bobo doll. Additionally, because most of this research is correlational in
This shows that this can be both a positive and nature, critics have questioned whether the research
negative process. He believes that people adopt adequately controls for other extraneous variables that may
behaviour by observing others. be responsible for the relationships proposed.