Media Models

MM1 - Hypodermic Syringe

Direct connection between violence and ASB in films and the copycat violence seen within society
Suggests that children and teenagers are susceptible to media content as they are in the early stages of socialisation and are incredibly impressionable
Bandura et Al conducted an experiment on young children involving exposure to violent media which concluded that violent media lead to imitation or copycat violence
McCabe and Martin concluded that media violence has a disinhibition effect which allows children to think that under certain circumstances the normal societal rules that govern society can be suspended (Anomie)
Newson (Desensitisation) argued that sadistic images were too easily available and the images encouraged viewers to identify with violent figures and not the victim (negotiated response)
Drip Drip exposure leads to desensitisation of violence
Fesbach and Sanger found that screen violence can provide an outlet for aggressive tendencies (Catharsis)
Young argues that seeing the effects of violence and the subsequent suffering can make audiences more aware of their actions and less inclined to commit violent acts

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Blumier, McQuail and Lull see the audiences as active and the model suggests people use media in order to satisfy particular social needs they have
Wood illustrated how teenagers use horror films to settle a need for excitement
Blumier and McQuail’s 4 Basic Needs:
- Diversion - People immerse themselves in particular types of media to make up for the lack of satisfaction at work or in their daily lives
- Personal Relationships - Media products such as soap operas may compensate for the decline of community in their lives
- Personal Identity - People may use the media to ‘make-over’ or modify their personal identity
- Surveillance - People use the media to obtain new information and news in order to help them make up their minds on particular issues
Marxists are critical of the model as they suggest that social needs may be manufactured by the media and that the needs are actually ‘false needs’ as a result of this

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Marxist Model sees the media as an ideological influence mainly concerned with the transmission of capitalist norms and values or ruling class ideology
Marxists argue that media content contains strong ideological messages which reflect the values of those who own, control and produce the media
Marxists believe that television content is dumbed down so that there is less critical thinking from the audience allowing false class consciousness to be inflicted into the media without question or contradiction from the audience
This leads to a lack of serious debate about the organisation of capitalism, social inequalities and generated problems

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Katz and Lazarsfeld suggest that personal relationships and conversations with significant others results in people modifying or rejecting media messages
They argue that social networks are dominated by opinion leaders
There is a suggestion that media messages gave to go through two steps or stages
Media audiences are not directly influenced by the media as they choose to adopt a particular opinion, attitude and way of behaving after negotiation and discussion with an opinion leader
This forms an active audience

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Major Errors with the 2 Step Flow Model
- There is no guarantee that the opinion leader has not been subjected to an imitative or desensitising effect
- People who may be most at risk of being influenced by the media may be socially isolated individuals who are not members of any social networks and don't have access to an opinion leader
Problems with the 2 Step Flow Model
- The growth of new social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook means that there are now more opinion leaders than Katz and Lazarsfeld imagined
- It still assumes the majority of media audiences are passive with a select few members being opinion leaders
- It assumes opinion leaders have homogenous views
- It ignores the diversity of views opinion leaders might have

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Klapper suggests that for a media message to have any effect, it must pass through 3 filters
- Selective Exposure - The audience must choose to view, read or listen to the content of specific media
- Selective Perception - The audience may not accept the message; some people may take notice of some media content, but decide to reject or ignore others
- Selective Retention - The messages have to ‘stick’ in the mind of those who have accessed the media content
This method gives a lot of autonomy to the audience
Audience members are not influence by the media but are more likely to remember things which they already thought or agreed with

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