Early Media Theories

Question 1

Hypodermic Syringe Model

Answer 1

(direct effects): Media messages are injected into a passive audience.
- Linked to moral panics and mass manipulation. E.g., violent video games = aggressive behaviour.

Question 2

Two-Step Flow Model - who

Answer 2

Katz and Lazarsfeld

Question 3

Two-Step Flow Model

Answer 3

(Katz and Lazarsfeld):
Media influences opinion leaders, who then influence others.
- Audience is not entirely passive.

Question 4

Uses and Gratifications - who

Answer 4

(Blumler and Katz)

Question 5

Uses and Gratifications

Answer 5

(Blumler and Katz):
- Active audience uses media for:
- Personal identity
- Information
- Entertainment
- Social interaction

Question 6

Reception Analysis - who

Answer 6

Hall

Question 7

Reception Analysis

Answer 7

(Hall): Audiences interpret texts differently:
- Dominant reading
- Negotiated reading
- Oppositional reading

Question 8

Reception Analysis primarily focus on how

Answer 8

media messages affect audiences, and how audiences interpret those messages

Question 9

2 step flow model

Answer 9

• media messages don’t directly influence aud.
• but are 1st received by “opinion leaders” then interpret and disseminate the message to their networks
• These opinion leaders, who are seen as influential figures, play a crucial role in shaping audience perception of media content

Question 10

Reception Analysis

Answer 10

emphasizes the diverse and dynamic ways in which aud. interpret media messages, recognizing that individuals can understand the same content differently and even change their interpretations over time

Question 11

Uses and Gratifications Model shifts the focus to the

Answer 11

• active role of the audience in media consumption.
• individuals use media selectively to fulfill their own needs and gratifications, eg info. , entertainment, or social interaction.

Question 12

Postmodernist Model of Audience Effects

Answer 12

views the audience as highly active and sees media as constitutive of their reality, rather than simply affecting them.

Question 13

Hypodermic Syringe Model (correlation)

Answer 13

direct correlation between violence/anti-social behaviour portrayed in the media and such behaviour in real life

Question 14

Hypodermic syringe model - the approach

Answer 14

direct correlation exists between the violence and anti-soc. beh. portrayed in films, on television, in computer games etc. and violence and antisocial behaviour e.g drug use and teenage gun/knife crime found in real life.

Question 15

Hypodermic syringe model - socialisation

Answer 15

• children and teenagers are vulnerable to media content because they are still in the early stages of socialisation and therefore very impressionable.
• Early studies of the relationship between the media and violence focused on conducting experiments in laboratories.

Question 16

BANDURA ET AL

Answer 16

• carried out an experiment on young children which involved exposing them to films and cartoons of a bobo doll being attacked with a mallet.
• They concluded that violent media content could lead to imitation or copycat violence.  

Question 17

Hypodermic syringe model - criticisms

Answer 17

• too deterministic in assuming all aud. will respond violently to violent media.
• They argue there can be many other responses to such violence

Question 18

The two-step flow model  - what are opinion leaders

Answer 18

• people of influence whom others in the network look up to and listen to
• usually have strong ideas about a range of matters.
• expose themselves to different types of media and form an opinion on their content.
• These interpretations are then passed on to other members of their social circle.

Question 19

The two-step flow model - indirect influence

Answer 19

• Messages have to go through two steps or stages.
• 1stly, the opinion leader is exposed to the media content.
• 2ndly they pass the message on to their social circle.
• Those who respect the opinion leader internalise their interpretation of that content.

Question 20

The two-step flow model - audiences

Answer 20

• not directly influenced by the media.
• choose to adopt a particular opinion, attitude and way of behaving after negotiation and discussion with an opinion leader.
• active.   

Question 21

1983 - Bagdikian (2004)

Answer 21

• 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all media in the USA.
• However, in 1992, 22 companies owned and operated 90% of the media.

Question 22

Curran (2003)

Answer 22

in 1937 four men owned
approximately half of all newspapers sold nationwide (including local newspapers).

Question 23

Reception analysis examines how …

Answer 23

• audiences interpret & understand media messages, moving beyond the trad. view of audiences as passive recipients.
• It explores how individuals, influenced by their cultural backgrounds and experiences, actively construct meaning from media texts

Question 24

Reception analysis explores how…

Answer 24

individuals, influenced by their cultural backgrounds and experiences, actively construct meaning from media texts

Question 25

Reception analysis highlights the...

Answer 25

diverse and sometimes contradictory ways in which the same media message can be understood by different people.

Question 26

Reception Analysis - audience

Answer 26

Assumes presence of an active audience - agency to intrepret messages they see in media in various diff. ways

Question 27

Encoding and Decoding

Answer 27

Producers "encode" messages into media texts, and audiences "decode" them based on their own experiences and perspectives.

Question 28

Preferred (or Dominant) Reading

Answer 28

The audience accepts the message as intended by the producer.

Question 29

Negotiated Reading

Answer 29

The audience accepts some aspects of the message but also incorporates their own interpretations, modifying the intended meaning.

Question 30

Oppositional Reading

Answer 30

The audience rejects the intended meaning and creates their own, often opposing the producer's message.

Question 31

Reception Analysis - Importance of Context

Answer 31

An individual's social context (age, gender, culture, beliefs, etc.) significantly influences their interpretation of a media text

Question 32

Shifting Meanings: Hall's theory

Answer 32

acknowledges that meanings are not fixed but are constantly negotiated and reinterpreted by audiences.

Question 33

Hall - preffered reading

Answer 33

- Majority - concensus view of message transmitted - conformed with majority of those intepreting the message

Question 34

Hall - oppositional reading

Answer 34

- minority opposed to consensus view - conflicting view w majority - openly critical of message that was being interpreted by the man. of aud.

Question 35

Hall - negotiated reading

Answer 35

- creating own view that aligns with individual values - balanced & informed decision on what they have seen or heard - interpret this in a way that aligns with their own worldview (critical or in support , more considered than other 2 readings)

Question 36

How does the reception analysis model work

Answer 36

Media source will transmit a message, & individuals will interpret this in one of 3 ways (preferred, negotiated, oppositional)

Question 37

Hall - preffered reading , seen in practice

Answer 37

In tabloid newspapers, indivudals consume media sources with little critical analysis

Question 38

Hall - negotiated reading , seen in practice

Answer 38

Comments received on websites and letters sent to editors questioning the content presented

Question 39

Hall - oppositional reading , seen in practice

Answer 39

- eg differing views & messages transmitted during the COVID-19 pandemic - maj. intepreted the messages and formed a concensus view of agreement with the dangers of covid - opposational reading via anti-vaxxers (reflected in their actions) - negotiated reading from inds. agreed w elements put forward (eg taking precautions & being vaccinated) yet still displayed critical attitudes towards messages that suggested the gov. handling was adequate - inds wil interpret messages based upon their own experience & views

Question 40

Evaluation reception analysis model :)

Answer 40

- promotes polysemic view of media (= message can have diff meanings for inds. based on their own und. of soc.) --> more relevant , reflects post-modern soc. and rejection of old metanarratives - explains tabloid reporting of issues and development of typologies of auiences (eg Daily Mail reader - reinforcing conservative id.)

Question 41

why is oppositional reading more balanced

Answer 41

inds. may agree with some elements of the media and reject others , balanced and critical reading

Question 42

Evaluation reception analysis model :(

Answer 42

- methodological issues in Hall's research - lacked ecological validity (artificial environment) (participants viewed media sources outside of a natural env) = otther influences might have impacted on the outcomes of their research