As media - Audience

STUART HALL 1920'S 

Preferred reading- Audiance accepts and adopts the dominant reading of the text and decodes it in the way the producer intended

eg."I love apples"

Negotiated reading- Audiance accepts some parts of the text but disagrees with other parts they decode the text partially how the producer intended

eg. "Apples are good in a pie but I prefer berries in a crumble" 

Oppositional reading- the audiance does not agree with the media peice at all and decodes it in a way the producer did not intended

eg. "Apples taste horrible, berries are much nicer"

Active audience- An audience who responds to and interprets the media texts in different ways (preferred, negotaited, oppositional) and who actively engages with the messages.

Passive audience- An audience weho does not engage actively with the text and usually accepts the preffered reading 

• Gender 
• Age 
• Ethnicity 
• Culture
• Cultral competence (texts that have been target specifically at a                                         gender) 
• Situatation (where you are eg. cinema vs at home)

The media injects ideas into the passive audiance who will respond as one. 

This theory is largerly outdated. It follows the idea that the audiance are all passive and will all respond in the same way which is not how it works in reality. 

• 1930's - Dictatorship and propaganda 

BULMERS AND KATZ 19870's 

Replaced hypodermic needle theroy and saw the audiance as active and individual. It suggests that people seek differnent uses of media texts.

Personal identity- people take pleasure from media as they can relate to it in there own lives 

Education and Information- find out more information about the world

Entertainmnet and Diversion- escaping normal life through experiencing a different reality

Social interaction- Some media is of the moment or new this is then often used to make conversation 

Its an American term that follows the idea that media is used for social interactions. 

=Immediate audience response whereby the next morning people are around the 'water cooler' talking about what happened on the particular program the night before. 

DAVID GAUNTLETT -2002 

The idea that the individual picks the parts of the media they want to read, watch, listen to and ignores the parts they have no intest in. 

LAZARSFELD AND KATZ 1940's/50's 

The theory says that the media itself is not influential enough to change audience attitudes. They say that the bulk of the audiance receive media through the opinion leaders, the opinion leaders have absorbed, understood and filtered the infpormation for the bulk of the audience.

Opinion leader= those who affect the way to the audiance interprets media, thye act as a filter. Include people such as teachers, poloticians, parents, celebrities  

Media         > Opinion leaders          > Audience

Labeling people A-E based on class, occupation, postcode, income, age, gender 

A=  Higher managment, bankers, doctors

B=  Middle managment, teachers, creative and media 

C1= Office supervisors, junior managment, nurses

C2= Manual/skilled workers -plumbers, builders

D= Semi or unskilled, manual workers 

E= Unemployed, retired, students, casual workers 

Divides people by values, attitudes and lifestyle.

MAINSTREAMERS= Like security, belonging to a group of like minded people and value money. Dont like taking risks (40% of population).

ASPIRERS= Have status and show this through brands, live on credit, designer labels, celeb endorsements, stylish and dynamic.

EXPLORERS= Discover new things, new experiences, like to see instant results.

SUCCEEDERS= Have status and control, like branded products.

REFORMERS= Innotative, socially aware, enviormentally friendly dont have status, not materalistic or brand orientated.