Media Model: Reception Analysis Model

Question 1

Are the audience active or passive?

Answer 1

Active - act in a variety of subcultural ways and are not impressionable or homogeneous

Question 2

Define the terms ‘encoding’ and ‘decoding’

Answer 2

Encoding - media messages are given a particular intended meaning by content creators

Decoding - interpreting media texts and deciding whether you agree or disagree with the messages transmitted

Question 3

What were the three readings of media content that Morley identified?

Answer 3

-Preferred reading
-Oppositional reading
-Negotiated reading

Question 4

What is negotiated reading?

Answer 4

Audiences accept the dominant/preferred reading but some may not and instead attempt to fit their own beliefs/experiences into the way they interpret the content

Question 5

What did Morley (1989) suggest about social groups in the media?

Answer 5

The average person belongs to several subcultural groups which may complicate a persons reading of media content E.G. they may not be consistent in their interpretation

Question 6

What is Oppositional Reading?

Answer 6

Audiences reject the intended message/interpretation or (in other words) the preferred or dominant reading. For example, people who are anti-monarchy may be critical of stories about the royals.

Question 7

What is Preferred (or dominant) reading?

Answer 7

People interpret media texts as the producers intended

Question 8

What did Hall say about media content?

Answer 8

Content/messages are encoded by those who produce them

Question 9

What is an evaluation of the reception analysis model?

Answer 9

It ignores the power that media industries have in shaping perceptions and behaviour