Audience Theories

The Hypodermic Needle Theory

This theory suggests that media has a direct, immediate and a powerful affect on an audience which was strong in the 1940's and 1950's as technology was still very new and just beginning to grow as radio and television were becoming more popular and the advertising industry began to develop meaning they as an audience were more passive to media texts than audiences now. The theory suggests that a large audience can be influenced by directly "injecting" a message into the audience which is designed to trigger an appropriate response. It suggests a powerful and a direct flow from the sender (institution) to the receiver (audience). As a whole this expresses the view that media is dangerous form of communication because the audience is powerless to it and passively accepts the message and acts upon it. This theory assumes that we believe everything we see or are told and that we are brainwashed by the media.

The hypodermic needle theory is an out of date theory as we now understand media more and are less influenced by it, we also understand that not everyone watches or consumes media texts in the same way. More modern theories have also proved that audiences are not simply passive which needs to happen for the hypodermic needle theory to be used and as a society we are more aware of how institutions operate as a whole as we are no longer heavily influenced by media institutions.

An example of when the hypodermic needle theory took place was during the first broadcast of "War of The Worlds" as it was performed like a real news broadcast to heighten the effect of the story but for many people listening they thought it was a legitimate news broadcast and believed that earth was being invaded by Mars due to the media being new to them and them accepting media texts passively.


Stuart Hall


The reception theory states that media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages, this text is then decoded by audiences, although not everyone decodes text in the way the producer intended.
There are three ways of decoding the meaning:

• Dominant
• Negotiated
• Oppositional

Dominant

When an audience decodes a text in the way a producer intended.

The audience agrees with the ideology and message behind the text.

Negotiated

Accepts and understands the producers intention.

Do not agree or disagree but have their own opinion on the text.

Have their own view yet understands the producers meaning behind the text.

Oppositional

Audience rejects the producers meaning and infers their own reading of the text.

Reject the message fully as they do not agree with the message created for the audience.

Interpret text in the "wrong" way.

May be offended or upset at intended message from the institution.

Class Responses

Blumer and Katz - Uses and Gratification Theory

There are four needs within this theory:

• Surveillance
• Personal Identity
• Personal Relationships
• Diversion

Surveillance

It is based around the idea that people feel better having the feeling that they know what is going on in the world around them which is why we watch things such as the news as it is one of the more reliable sources of information we can trust.

It is about awareness and how we use the mass media to be more aware of the world, gratifying a desire for knowledge and security.

It is used to help plan our days, e.g. weather reports

A problem with this method of using media is that social media can influence how this concept works as fake stories are created giving  false sense of security. 

Personal Identity

Personal identity explains how being a subject of the media allows us to confirm the identity and positioning of ourselves within society.

The use of the media for forming personal identity can be seen in music videos/films.

Personal identity when consuming a media product allows us to associate and relate to the product directly making us feel gratified in one way or another making us understand that we share our identities which can make us feel normal or accepted.

Different genres allow people to identify in different ways to different elements.

Personal Relationships

There are two parts to this section of the theory:

• Relationships with the Media 
• Using the Media Within Relationships. 

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

Relationships with the Media

They appeal to a mass audience

They make us able to relate to the characters and narrative

It helps us understand social issues and issues we have encountered to help up deal with emotional times.

Media is there to support the audience. 

Using the Media Within Relationships

Another aspect to the personal relationships model is how we can sometimes use the media as a springboard to form and build upon relationships with real people.

For instance having a favourite TV programme in common can often be the start of a conversation, and can even make talking to strangers that much easier. 

Diversion

The diversion need describes what's commonly termed as escapism for instance watching the television so we can forget about our own lives and problems for a while and think about something else.

To distract ourselves from our problems.