Mr

Smith G325 Question 1b

Audience G325

Question 1b G325

Name ......................................................
Mr Smith G325 Question 1b

Audience OCR G325 Question 1b

BLUMER MASS AUDIENCE
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?
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2. How much of your media experience occurs when you are on your own and how much when
you are with others?
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3. Think back to your genre work, how is your media experienced?
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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)
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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
outdated 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?
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Is this influence always negative?

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What effect do you hope that your text has on an audience?

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What would be the incorrect effect be and why might this happen with your text?

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Mr Smith G325 Question 1b
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS
A more recent model of audience is that of uses and gratifications, which suggests 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 drama
b) the need for identity, by using characters and personalities to define our sense of self and
social behaviour: film, celebs
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 quizzes

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
PREFERRED 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.
Mr Smith G325 Question 1b
TASK 3

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 Oppositional

Negotiated

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 4

Select two magazines, one must be your AS coursework magazine and one must be a real music
magazine from your genre. Compare the mode of address they have. 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
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 FOCUS ON THE DOMESTIC CONTEXT OF RECEPTION OF MEDIA TEXTS

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 ELEMENT OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE
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.
TECHNOLOGIES
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 5.
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.