Audiences in the Media

The first 200 words of this essay...

Audiences in the Media

Introduction

* It would be unusual for any of us living in a contemporary western society to go throughout a day without encountering some form of mass media.

* This is not surprising. The media is directed at us, we are its audience.

* There seem to be 3 important questions:

o Does the media affect our behaviour or beliefs?

o If it does produce an effect how can this be explained and measured?

o To what extent do we ignore or subvert media messages?

* In general there seem to be two main approaches to the study of audiences.

* One approach views the audience as very much the passive recipient of media messages - the media produces effects in an audience.

* The second approach considers the audience as much more actively involved in media interpretation - the reception analysis model.

* Or more simply:

o What does the media do to us? (The passive audience)

o What do we do to the media? (The active audience)

* This division reflects the more general argument within social sciences as to