6.4 - Relationship between Producers and Audience.pptx

1. 6.4 Relationship
between producers
and audience.
Task 6 – Extended Response to Documentary
Syllabus Point:
Relationship between
producers and audience
We must get away from
the habit of thinking in
terms of what the media
do to people and
substitute for it the idea of
what people do with the
media,
- James Halloran
Response Question: Analyse how the changing values of society shape representations in media work.

2. Audience &
Reading texts
The term ‘read’ is being used loosely in media to refer to
any process of interpretation – viewing, scanning,
listening, and ither forms of engaging can all be termed
reading. A text must be capable if being reproduced and
subjected to analysis.To read or decode a text is to make
sense of it, regardless of whether it contains actual
writing.
There are two main concerns here:
1) Do texts have a single, essential meaning that
analysts, readers and critics are looking for or can
numerous, different meanings be found in any one
text?
2) What factors need to be taken into account in trying
to establish what meanings a given text might hold?
Take 2-3 minutes to
discuss this with the
person next to you, and
be ready to share your
findings.

3. Representations
There aremultiple
representations of
issues/people andideas in
TheSocial Dilemma. We
will focusonthe following
Three.
Who/What is
represented?
Techniques/ Construction Link to
Social
Values?
Dominant,
Emerging,
Oppositional?
Technology
Social Media
Teenagers

4. TheSocial
Dilemma
Techniques &Style
What are the key
documentary
techniques used in The
Social Dilemma and
do they fit into the
category of Ethos,
Pathos or Logos?
Has societies evolved or changed to the point where audience
will engage with one forms of persuasion over other?
DocoTechniques
Ethos
Pathos
Logos

5. How can we
understand the
relationship
between media
and audiences?
Communication Theories are ways of conceptualising
the relationship between the mass media and audiences.
Since the early days of mass communication, media
theorists have attempted to describe the process of
communication in an attempt to understand extent of
media influence.
We will focus today on 4 key Communication theories.
- Hypodermic NeedleTheory
- Reinforcement Theory
- Uses and GratificationTheory
- 2-Step FlowTheory
Communication (Media)Theories

6. Hypodermic
NeedleTheory
(1920s-40s)
The Hypodermic NeedleTheory suggests that the media has a direct and
powerful influence on audiences. It was developed in the 1920s and 1930s
after researchers observed the effect of propaganda duringWorldWar I
and incidents such as OrsonWelles’War of theWorlds broadcast.
It became the dominant way of thinking about media influence during the
subsequent decades. The Hypodermic Needle theory is a linear
communication theory which suggests that a media message is injected
directly into the brain of a passive audience. This theory suggests that
media texts are closed and audiences are influenced in the same way.The
Hypodermic NeedleTheory is no longer accepted by media theorists as a
valid explanation of communication and media influence. Indeed, some
dispute whether early media theorists gave the idea serious attention.
Although the theory has been abandoned by most media theorists, it
continues to influence mainstream discourse about the influence of the
mass media. People believe that the mass media can have a powerful
effect on people and parents continue to worry about the effect of
television and violent video games.
There is a power imbalance:
producers of the media
messages have more control
over meaning, and the
transmission of information
is largely one-way, with
limited audience feedback or
input.

7. Reinforcement
Theory
(1960s)
The reinforcement model refines the Hypodermic Needle
approach by suggesting that the media work in conjunction
with social forces to influence people when their messages
coincide with ideas being produced elsewhere in society –
through education, family, religion, and so on.
MediaTheorist Joseph Klapper argued that the media has
little power to influence people and it just reinforces our
pre-existing attitudes and beliefs which have been
developed by more powerful social institutions like families,
schools and religion organisations.
Audiences are active and exist in a society where they are
influenced by important social institutions. This theory
considers the total situation.
The strength of this theory is
that it moves the discussion
about media influence away
from the assumption that
the media has a direct and
powerful influence on
audiences, considering the
total situation.

8. Uses and
Gratification
(1970s)
Early thinking about communication theories focused on what the media
does to people.The Uses and GratificationTheory concerns itself with what
people do with the media.
This theory proposes that audiences are active participants in the
communication process.They choose media texts to gratify their own
needs – such as the need for information, personal identity, integration,
social interaction or entertainment.
Uses and Gratification researchers maintain that the best way to find out
about media use is by asking the audience because they are “sufficiently
self-aware” to explain their reasons for using media texts. According to this
theory, texts are open and audiences are active. In fact, the Uses and
Gratification theory suggests that audiences actually have power over
the mass media. For example, if they choose not to watch a particular
program it won’t rate and will be taken off the air.
Uses and Gratification theorists
examine what people do with
the media and maintain that
the best way to find out is by
asking audiences. A recent
study of how young people use
social networking - ‘Hanging
out, messing around and
geeking out’ - took this
approach, asking young people
how and why they use social
networking sites.

9. Two-Step
FlowTheory
(1948)
In 1948, Paul F Lazarsfeld wrote ‘The People’s Choice’ which
summarised his research into the November 1940 presidential
election. In the course of his research, Lazarsfeld discovered
that people were more likely to be influenced by their peers
than the mass media.
Lazarsfeld called these people ‘opinion leaders’. TheTwo Step
FlowTheory suggests that opinion leaders pay close
attention to the mass media and pass on their
interpretation of media messages to others.TheTwo Step
FlowTheory maintains that audiences are active
participants in the communication process.
Audiences are active, particularly opinion leaders, who exist
throughout society in all different classes and socioeconomic
groups.
This theory acknowledges that
audiences are part of a society
which affects the flow of
information. One weakness is
that there may, in fact, be more
than two steps in the flow of
communication.

10. Homework
(Preparation for Next
Week)
Answer the following questions on your OneNote:
1) Which communication theory explored do you find the most
useful, or relevant to media today and why?
(Use the PPT slides or Communication theories Document to recap the theories)
1) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Communication
Theory that you chose?
2) Write 3 – 4 dot points addressing the following question using
any information we explored over the last few lessons (6.1 –
6.4)
‘How can audience values impact a viewer’s consumption of media’