MEDIA THEORIES

Jack O’Hara
 HYPODERMIC NEEDLE

The hypodermic needle theory is the theory that the media have an influence
on how the general public perceive their own reality. They believe that the
media inject thoughts into the audience without them even knowing it,
making it so they can change their opinions on things.

An example of this would be the Call of Duty and the fanbase it holds. It is
promoted that the game is not suitable for anyone under eighteen (in some
cases sixteen) and when children younger than that get their hands on them,
it can sometimes effect their mental state, shown in the many shootings in
the young to middle teen ages in the United States.
The media has fed us information that it is absolutely the reason for the
shootings taking place, yet there is no concrete evidence. This theory doesn’t
work as well as others because they treat everyone as one and don’t take into
consideration individuality.
 TWO-STEP FLOW

Two-step flow is the theory that

suggests that the media can use
popular celebrities and
‘influencers’ to pass on their
messages as the public are more
likely to listen to the celebrities
than the actual government. That
is why they are called
‘influencers’.

An example of this theory is that

when the elections come around,
government parties pay celebrities
in order for them to endorse their
brand and everything they stand
for. Though, this isn’t as powerful
of a theory because people will
rarely change their opinions.
 USES AND
GRATIFICATIONS

The uses and gratifications theory is a theory that depicts that the
media looks at the audience as a live, active audience. This is how the
audience reacts to the mass media and how they choose which media
they would like to consume and for what reason they want to. These
reasons are to be educated, informed, entertained, have a personal
identity, integration, social interaction and even escapism.

An example of this would be creating a piece of content about film

cameras on a vintage television channel because you know they are
more likely to enjoy it than other channels. Though, another example
of this would be to promote something on Twitter rather than
Instagram because the userbase have different ideals.
 PREFERRED
READINGS

The preferred readings theory is a part of the

‘Reception Theory’ in which media creators will have a
preferred reading of text in mind whenever they create a
product so that it will resonate with a certain
demographic of people using dominant, negotiated and
oppositional texts.

An example of this could be a movie trailer. Two

different people will react to that trailer different or
completely the same depending on what kind of person
they are. Preferred texts can be as simple as the clothes
a person wears in a trailer, the music they use or the
specific camera angles they use.
 PASSIVE / ACTIVE

The passive/active theory is the theory that there are two different audience
members, passive and active. A passive audience member would be a person
who watches the product given to them and would accept everything they are
given at face value, not bothering to think about it any more than what they
are given. However, an active audience member would be a person that goes
out of their way to interact with the show and challenge the concepts that are
given to them.

An example of this would be a person watching a documentary about

conspiracy theories. A passive audience member would completely accept
everything that is given to them whilst an active audience member would be
coming up with their own conclusions on the theories handed to them given
the evidence at hand, whether they agree with the conspiracy or not.