During 1938’s a radio broadcasted, left a catastrophic effect on the mass media, hundreds of people evacuated cities in panic. The broadcast was radio play for War of the Worlds written by Orson Wells, the unfortunate people who didn’t catch the warning that it was all fiction believed that the aliens had landed, they grabbed their possessions and left. Now was this an irresponsible thing to do? Even though it had a warning it still should not have been aired the way it was written, it should have been written e.g. “A film about how aliens landed on the earth and the effect” rather than “this is a live broadcast from London, the aliens have landed, we suggest you evacuate the cities immediately”. But this means if people did believe this broadcast and actually considered evacuating the city then it means they had full faith in the media, is this how we live now? If we saw a broadcast on the TV that had a newsreader talking about how millions had died because of alien attacks and actual footage of this, would we believe it? Consider to yourself the percentage of the public that would panic. So this proves to me that people have full faith in the media although we sometimes see right through them, e.g. we go to the movies and we know that majority of what we see is fake. This has made me believe how much power the media has, and if it unleashed another set of propaganda, then we would most likely believe it, it worked with the Nazi’s so why wouldn’t it work today? This draw’s my attention to the type of audiences that there could be, I could use the above as an example.
Active
The people who did evacuate their towns would be classed as Active; another example for Active audiences would be the people that went to conventions, or the people who got involved in fan culture. Dennis McQuail stated:
“Rather than looking at what media do to people, but what people do to the media?”
David Morley looks at how meanings are constructed at point of encounter between texts and readers, these being;
1. Dominant: Audience fully accepts the programs ‘preferred reading’
2. Negotiated: Audience modify the preferred reading to reflect their position
3. Oppositional: Audiences rejects preferred reading completely
Passive
Then we have the passive audience that don’t really have any interest, quite sceptical and not really believing anything, like the type that thought ‘oh what a load of rubbish there’s on the radio’. Theorist have also argued whether being an audience is active or passive, because sometimes it’s hard to tell, someone may seem like they’re watching the programme but they will be in their own world thinking about something else, this is something companies will never know, if the audience are in fact mesmerized in their programme.
Interactive
Majority of people know what interactive is, my idea was- it’s the internet, I’ve already stated in my previous blogs information about the internet, how I believe its revolutionised media all together. It went online in 1992 and since the short period of 18 years it has completely changed the way we live. This causes audiences to interact with fan culture and to create media themselves this being websites, blogs, etc. This has given the ordinary people like you and me a chance to get wealthy through ideas like Facebook, videos, literature etc., the internet is one huge place for people to advertise their skills e.g. singers who sing covers on YouTube hoping a producer will see it and sign them on. Fan culture means the way fans interact with the media, we see them having fun with original ideas e.g. Harry Potter conventions, where fans have developed their own ideas e.g. Harry and Draco’s secret affair. Fan culture can apply to anything even sport e.g. fantasy football. This week’s reading written by Virginia Nightingale and Karen Ross states that “people are able to shape and vary their media engagements in more satisfying ways” and that fans were seen as an intelligent community “we see fans as explorers of the productive dimensions of cyberspace”.
They also stated that “todays television is losing market share to new media, and audiences are on the move” this claim is absolutely correct, a study shown on the BBC states that the Internet has surpassed Television with the amount of advertising. They also believed that this generation is the best to be in for business opportunities “they have been among the first to create opportunities to meet online, talk, and share ideas, information, images and creative work” I believe in what they’ve just said, because how many of us have wandered “damn I wish I came up with Google, or Facebook” but then again it’s hard to invent something that does not yet exist.
Dennis McQuail went on to say that the public were being spoon feed information by a “hypodermic needle”
A Transmission Model was adopted from Shannon and Weaver, when they discussed Paradigm Shifts in Audience Reception in 1949. Now when I see this image and try to compare it to everyday communication, I can start to become skeptical of it, this is because if two people were talking on the street and a car honked then it would interrupt the communication between the ‘sender’ and the ‘receiver’. Same with it being on the radio, distortion can cause the DJ to loose moments of communication with the audience. So sometimes messages don’t get to the ‘receiver’ the way ‘senders’ intended to. This also implies to the way sometimes messages are misleading or may not be fully understood. This barrier can also apply to languages. Mass media also have strong as well as weak effects, although we don’t respond to it straight away sometimes it catches up e.g. I will see a product for sale, but not want it at the time, but when I do come to need it I will think of the advert which promoted it and then purchase it.
Paradigm being a way we think. I will then discuss the effects of paradigm. It was also believed if you’re already a member of one group it is harder for advertisement to convert you. Paul Lazarsfeld’s studies into voting behavior (1940s) - Two Step Flow Model, he believed that media messages flow from media to opinion leaders to rest of audience. This is supported by Klapper (1960) –
“Persuasive mass communication is more likely to reinforce existing opinions of audience”
Audiences
When reading “Critical Readings: Media and Audiences” by Virginia Nightingale and Karen Ross, a few sentences stuck out for me, one of these being;
“In the broadcast era, audiences had been characterized as masses, as communities, as consumers, as markets, as niches, as targets, as individuals, as obsessed fanatics and even vegetating couch potatoes”
This is sentence breaks down how the public have been described and thought of by companies.
Denis McQuail then states reasons why the public are attracted to the media
- Information – learning, education etch
- Integration and Social Interaction – Communicating via face book
- Entertainment - You tube, Iplayer and other forms of escapism
From 1960’s onwards theorists became concern about the long term affect i.e. advertising on children. Virginia Nightingale and Karen Ross said;
“Many adults too were content to sit, mesmerized by a box, for hours on end. As a result, television prompted widespread community concern about the effects and possible social consequences – for human health, psychological well-being and public safety”
This claim has now been backup by scientists who are also concern about this pastime, I try my best not to spend too much time watching TV or being on Facebook, because at the end of my life the hours and hours will count up and it would honestly have been wasted. There is also a key difference in audiences:-
Intentional audiences – someone who’s tuning in to watch the programme
Non-intentional - not actively coming across it
Non-intentional - not actively coming across it
Ross and Nightingale (2003) claim that there are at least five dimensions to all research about audiences, these being;
1. The people involved – gender, age etc.
2. Their activities – Facebook, YouTube, Blogging etc.
3. The media materials which they use to engage e.g. the internet
4. The media time/space in which engagement occurs e.g. after school/work
5. The media power structure e.g. some type of effect
I have also discovered the strength of certain audiences, if it is strong then they’re known as a fan
Normal fan – tuning in and buying DVD’s
An example is Harry Potter fans
1. Read the books
2. Dress up as characters
3. Merchandise
4. Preferred reading etc. Harry and Draco’s affair
5. Alliances etc. wizard rock festival.
References:
Ross K and Nightingale V ‘Critical Reading: Media and Audiences’
