1. Audience Theory
Target Audience
All media products have a target audience
Particularly in propaganda they sometimes try to construct an
audience
Products can have a mass audience or a niche audience
Frankfurt School – a group of media t heorist s – 1920s – 30s – effect s of mass
media
‘Effects’ model – society to be concerned about the effects of mass
media
Hypodermic syringe – the contents of the media were injected into the
thoughts of the audience who accepted everything without question
The Two St ep Flow – Lazarsfelf and Kat z – 1940s – 50s
1. Opinion Leaders get info from a media source
2. Opinion leaders then pass on the information along with their
interpretation to others
Strength: audiences are active and seen as part of a society
Weakness: more than two steps in the flow of communication
Uses and Grat ificat ions – 1960s
Audiences made choices about what they did when consuming texts
Audiences were made up of individuals who actively consuming texts
1. Diversion – escape from everyday problems and routine
2. Personal relationship – using the media fdor emotional and other
interaction – soaps = family life
3. Personal identity – finding yourself reflected in texts and picking
up behaviour and values from texts
4. Surveillance – information which could be useful for living e.g.
weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains
Since then the list of uses and g has been extended particularly as new
media forms have come along eg video games and the internet.
2. David Morely – 1980s
Dominance reading – audience shares the programme’s meanings,
values, attitudes and beliefs and fully accepts the programmes
preferred reading
Negot iat ed reading – the reader partly shares the codes and broadly
accepts the preferred reading but modifies it in a way which reflects
their position and interests
Opposit ional reading – reader does not share codes and rejects the
preferred reading
