Transcript Media Research: Week 11 *Effects* and Audiences

Broadcasting: Concepts and Contexts
Week 8
‘Effects’ and Audiences
BIRTH MASS MEDIA 18TH/19TH CENTURY:
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CHANGE IN WESTERN SOCIETIES
AGRARIAN>>>INDUSTRIALISATION
URBANISATION
MASS EDUCATION
MASS MEDIA: PRESS>>CINEMA>>RADIO>>TV>>
INTERNET
HISTORICALLY, PERIODS OF INCREASED:
• INDUSTRIALISATION
• URBANISATION
• TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT
>>CONCERNS ABOUT WHAT ‘EFFECT’ MASS MEDIA HAS ON SOCIETY
AND INDIVIDUALS?
MEDIA EFFECTS
DEFINITION
LAUGHEY (2009:202)
‘A GENERAL TERM THAT DESCRIBES THE POWER OF
MEDIA TEXTS AND TECHNOLOGIES TO FUNCTION AS
STIMULI FOR AUDIENCE RESPONSES AND
REACTIONS’
MASS SOCIETY THEORY
UK :
F.R. LEAVIS (CAMBRIDGE ACADEMIC)
• CONSERVATIVE/RIGHT-WING
• CRITIQUE OF ‘POPULAR’ CULTURE
• CULTURAL INDUSTRIES (INCLUDING RADIO, CINEMA ETC)
PANDER TO ‘MASS’ TASTE
• PROFITABILITY
• ‘LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR’
• ADVENT OF CINEMA>>>‘AMERICANISATION’ OF
(EUROPEAN/ELITE) CULTURE
• NEED TO MAINTAIN ‘HIGH’ CULTURAL STANDARDS
THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL
(UNIVERSITY OF COLUMBIA)
SENTIMENTS ECHOED 1930 GERMANY/ POST-WAR USA
• MARCUSE, ADORNO, BENJAMIN, HORKHEIMER
• LEFT-WING/MARXIST
• RISE OF FASCISM/PROPAGANDA
• MASS MEDIA
• REDUCED CREATIVE THINKING
• RED. INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS
• PROMOTE FALSE NEEDS THROUGH CONSUMERISM/CAPITALISM
• ENSLAVED WORKERS
• CULTURAL DOPES
CONCLUSION
• MEDIA WERE HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL AND HAD CONSIDERABLE
EFFECTS ON SOCIETY>>> PROMOTE THE STATUS QUO, DUMB
DOWN, ETC
1940s - CURRENT
DOMINANT PARADIGM: ‘HYPODERMIC MODEL’
PIONEERS :LASSWELL, LAZARSFELD, KATZ
USA: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY/BEHAVIOURISM
BEHAVIOURISM: ‘A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE THAT AIMS TO
MEASURE HOW OUR THOUGHTS FEELINGS AND ACTIONS ARE
AFFECTED BY MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS’ ( AS DEFINED BY LAUGHEY,
2009)
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MEDIA VIOLENCE
CHILDREN AND TV
John P. Murray (2008)
Media Violence: The Effects are Both Real and Strong.
American Behavioral Scientist- Kansas State University.
Conclusion:
“Fifty years of research on the effect of TV violence on children leads to
the inescapable conclusion that viewing media violence is related to
Increases in aggressive attitudes, values, and behaviors”.
RECEPTION ANALYSIS: THE ‘ACTIVE AUDIENCE’
1970s-CURRENT
HOW DO AUDIENCES GENERATE MEANING?
BCCCS-BIRMINGHAM CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY
CULTURAL STUDIES
(STUART HALL, DAVID MORLEY, CHARLOTTE BRUNSDON)
‘ACTIVE AUDIENCE’
DEFINITION :
‘MEDIA AUDIENCES NOT REGARDED AS
PASSIVE CONSUMERS OF MEANINGS BUT AS
NEGOTIATING MEANINGS FOR THEMSELVES THAT ARE
OFTEN RESISTANT TO THOSE MEANINGS THAT ARE
INTENDED’ (BIGNELL, 2004)
• AUDIENCES INTERPRET MEDIA MESSAGES
• DETERMINED BY SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS
SHIFT FROM NOTION THAT THE MEDIA HAVE DIRECT POWER TO
DETERMINE INTERPRETATION AND UNDERSTANDING THAT
PEOPLE HAVE OF MEDIA MESSAGES>>>THE ABILITY OF
AUDIENCE TO MAKE MEANING
ENCODING/DECODING MODEL (HALL, 1975)
CRITICAL OF MST/EFFECTS TRADITION
SHIFT FROM DOMINANT IDEOLOGY EMBEDDED
WITHIN MEDIA MESSAGES>>‘GRAMSCIAN’ HEGEMONIC
APPROACH TO IDEOLOGICAL MESSAGES INVOLVING
CONSTANT FLUX OF STRUGGLE AND NEGOTIATION IN
ORDER TO WIN CONSENT, AS OPPOSED TO IMPOSING
FROM ABOVE
AUDIENCE READINGS
HALL IDENTIFIED 3 TYPES OF AUDIENCE READINGS:
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DOMINANT-ACCEPT ‘PREFERED’ MEANING
OPPOSITIONAL- DOMINANT RECOGNISED BUT REJECTED
NEGOTIATED-REJECTS, ACCEPTS OR REFINES ELEMENTS OF
PROGS. MEANING
HALL CONCERNED WITH:
• IDEOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF MEDIA
• POWERFUL INSTITUTION WHO CAN IMPOSE IDEALS ON SOCIETY
• REINFORCE AND PROMOTE DOMINANT VALUE SYSTEM OF ELITE
GROUPS/THOSE WHO GOVERN
• TV PROGS. ENCODED IDEOLOGICALLY
• PRODUCERS DETERMINE MEANING OF TEXT/’ PREFERRED’
READING
• ONE DOMINANT MESSAGE
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AUDIENCE DECODES OR PRODUCES MEANING FROM THE
‘READING’ OF TEXT.
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TEXTS-‘POLYSEMIC’>>MULTIPLE MEANINGS
VARIETY INTERPRETATIONS
SHAPED BY SOCIAL FACTORS E.G. CLASS
EMPHASIS ON INTERACTION BETWEEN TEXT AND AUDIENCE
AUDIENCE ‘ACTIVE’ AS OPPOSED TO PASSIVE
ABOVE ONLY HYPOTHETICAL NOT BASED ON EMPIRICAL
EVIDENCE
THE NATIONWIDE STUDY
DAVID MORLEY (1980)
• IDENTIFIED ‘PREFERRED’ MEANING OF TEXT
• INTERVIEWED DIFFERENT GROUPS FOLLOWING SCREENING
OF EPISODE OF NATIONWIDE
• EDUCATIONAL, SOCIAL, CULTURAL B.GROUNDS
FINDINGS
• DIFF. GROUPS INTERPRETED MEANING IN DIFF. WAYS
• NEGOTIATE, REJECT, ACCEPT
• DET. BY SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CLASS
• REVISION –
• IMPORTANCE OF ETHNICITY & GENDER
Late 20th/21st Century Audience
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Internet
Multi-platform delivery
Multi-channel programming
Media convergence
Result:
• Audience fragmentation
• Threat to dominance of main terrestrial channels
• Audience create/develop/upload content