The Daily Mirror: Audience Theoretical Approaches

Question 1

Relevant Theory: Stuart Hall, Reception Theory

Answer 1

• Prefered Reading: Active audiences who agree with the ideology of the newspaper will accept the viewpoint of the newspaper that is evident in its approach to stories. For example, left wing Labour voters are more amenable to the concepts and opinions written within the Mirror and therefore more likely to accept a preferred reading response for the majority of the politically charged news stories.
• Negotiated & Oppositional: Audiences with a different political allegiance to the paper, disagreeing with the messages constructed by the newspaper. This is likely to be Right-wing Conservative voters who may well read many of the politically chargerd stories from an oppositely/negatively opinionated perspective.

Question 2

Relevant Theory: Clay Shirky

Answer 2

• A rise of the prosumers who can create their own content submitting stories as a citizen journalist (through ‘Sell your Story’ opportunities through specific pages on the website, among others), offering an immediate perspective on news stories.
• Consumers can also actively engage and ‘speak back’ to the news media.
• The Daily Mirror website offers opportunities for readers to comment on stories and features, thus giving them a voice as part of the newspaper’s community

Question 3

Gerbner: Cultivation Theory

Answer 3

• Audience exposure to repeated patterns of representation, such as that of Brexit, the economy or of the government in power by newspapers may shape and influence their views and opinions of the world around them.
• Gerbner went on to say that this is NOT like ‘hypodermic model’ but rather depends on what the audience already believes.
• Newspapers function as opinion leaders and mediate the news for the readers with their political allegiance in mind.
• These views will be cultivated and reinforced by the newspaper and its content.
• The messages, such as that of the government being corrupt and elitist, need to resonate with an established belief in the audience of working-class left-wing men and women, such as that of Boris Johnson not being fit to govern.
• Not only is apparent through the Mirror’s constant reiteration of their left wing, Labour supporting values, but perhaps it could also be partly responsible with its readership’s apparent obsession with populist modern celebrity gossip / the rise of reality TV shows, etc.