Active audiences have a mind of their own and they inject their own meanings into media messages that they receive via different mediums.
Active audiences have a mind of their own and they inject their own meanings into media messages that they receive via different mediums. As an active audience, they have the freedom of choice in their selection of media and its content. They may also have different responses to the media. Over time research studies have shifted in focus to study audiences as having an active nature rather then a passive one. Different arguments have thus been brought up to support the idea that audiences are active. This essay will aim to study the arguments for the active audience.
An active audience is one who interprets media messages by constructing their own meanings to it. They question the media messages that they receive, agreeing only with what they believe in while they criticise and rejecting others based upon their past experiences or knowledge that they have. Active audiences do not allow themselves to be manipulated by the media and media itself also does not have any direct influence on audiences because they interpret media messages differently and have different responses to it. According to Viola (2002), audiences who actively interpret a programme will bring to a text different subjectivity and readings due to different social backgrounds as well as knowledge resources of the programme and life. Audiences are therefore not 'sponges' who simply absorb media messages just are they are intended but they are active in the way that they interpret media messages.
An active audience is also one that has the freedom of choice. They are active in the way that they select media and media content. They make choices by choosing programmes and channels that they want to watch, the radio stations that they want to listen to or even the type of newspaper that they want to read. Wilby and Conroy (1994:30) mentions that television channels are changed at the slightest provocation with a remote control unit. They also mention that if radio listeners are offended, isolated, bored, confused or simply of the belief that a better sound can be found from elsewhere on the tuning dial they will change allegiance with little hesitation (1994:34). Active audiences therefore make their own choices and have dominance over media messages that they receive.
An active audience can also be one who shows his/her responses to the media. This can be seen from whether an audience decides to donate money during a media appeal, take for example the recent charity programme 'The President Star Charity', shown on MediaCorp Singapore, channel 5. Another example of audience activity can be seen from whether an audience decides to participate in a media events like quiz shows, 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' or reality programmes, 'Survivor'. All these show audiences reaction to the media.
Seiter (1999:11) argues that renewed interest in qualitative research on media audiences have been questions that focused on audience activity rather then passivity and an interest in why the media are pleasurable. This altered the way media effects were discussed before the 1960s from the effects research of what the media do to people, to the uses and gratification research of why people use a particular media. The uses and gratification model of research focuses on audiences as highly active where they use the media to satisfy their own needs be it for entertainment or information. This model suggests that audiences have control over media and will use it to select the best media text that will gratify them. Cunningham and Miller (1994:9) talks about genres and how people may plan their television watching by genres (Saturday is sport, or Wednesday is British comedy). According to Seiter (1999:84), women voiced a taste for genre types like soap and movies; men preferred crime shows and sports. Jones (1995) mentions that children may need to watch cartoons for emotional release. This shows that audiences get gratification from being familiar with their favourite genre. Research studies have thus changed in the attempt to study audiences as active participants.
An active audience is one who interprets media messages by constructing their own meanings to it. They question the media messages that they receive, agreeing only with what they believe in while they criticise and rejecting others based upon their past experiences or knowledge that they have. Active audiences do not allow themselves to be manipulated by the media and media itself also does not have any direct influence on audiences because they interpret media messages differently and have different responses to it. According to Viola (2002), audiences who actively interpret a programme will bring to a text different subjectivity and readings due to different social backgrounds as well as knowledge resources of the programme and life. Audiences are therefore not 'sponges' who simply absorb media messages just are they are intended but they are active in the way that they interpret media messages.
An active audience is also one that has the freedom of choice. They are active in the way that they select media and media content. They make choices by choosing programmes and channels that they want to watch, the radio stations that they want to listen to or even the type of newspaper that they want to read. Wilby and Conroy (1994:30) mentions that television channels are changed at the slightest provocation with a remote control unit. They also mention that if radio listeners are offended, isolated, bored, confused or simply of the belief that a better sound can be found from elsewhere on the tuning dial they will change allegiance with little hesitation (1994:34). Active audiences therefore make their own choices and have dominance over media messages that they receive.
An active audience can also be one who shows his/her responses to the media. This can be seen from whether an audience decides to donate money during a media appeal, take for example the recent charity programme 'The President Star Charity', shown on MediaCorp Singapore, channel 5. Another example of audience activity can be seen from whether an audience decides to participate in a media events like quiz shows, 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' or reality programmes, 'Survivor'. All these show audiences reaction to the media.
Seiter (1999:11) argues that renewed interest in qualitative research on media audiences have been questions that focused on audience activity rather then passivity and an interest in why the media are pleasurable. This altered the way media effects were discussed before the 1960s from the effects research of what the media do to people, to the uses and gratification research of why people use a particular media. The uses and gratification model of research focuses on audiences as highly active where they use the media to satisfy their own needs be it for entertainment or information. This model suggests that audiences have control over media and will use it to select the best media text that will gratify them. Cunningham and Miller (1994:9) talks about genres and how people may plan their television watching by genres (Saturday is sport, or Wednesday is British comedy). According to Seiter (1999:84), women voiced a taste for genre types like soap and movies; men preferred crime shows and sports. Jones (1995) mentions that children may need to watch cartoons for emotional release. This shows that audiences get gratification from being familiar with their favourite genre. Research studies have thus changed in the attempt to study audiences as active participants.
