AHSS*1060 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Neoliberalism, Narrowcasting, Inoculation Theory
Mass Communication - AHSS 1060
Chapter 5: Perspectives on Media and Audiences
-Media seek audiences to inform, enlighten, entertain, and sell to advertisers or
pay a fee for the receipt of content.
-Scholars and social scientists seek to understand the nature of the interaction
between the media and their audiences.
-Members of the industry want to know demographic characteristics so they can
pinpoint the characteristics of the audience or “product” they are selling to
advertisers and marketers
Shifting Perspectives on Audience
-With the printing press, the act of communication between the originator of a
message and its recipient(s) became increasingly mediated.
-Digitization and media convergence have been used to break down the distance
between media production and consumption.
-Audience fragmentation (multitasking ex. Watching T.V and on their phones@
same time) presents a serious challenge to broadcasters, as it leads to a
lowering of the advertising rates they can charge.
Making Meaning in Context: Culture, Media, Audience
-Audience interpretations of media content are derived from:
a. The social background or history of the audience member
b. Her/his current state of mind
c. The social situation, or context, within which the media consumption is
taking place
d. The text or content
-The point of analyzing media–audience relations, however, is not to predict
audience behaviour but to understand it.
Six academic approaches to the audience
1. Effects research
2. Uses and gratification research
3. Marxist analysis and the Frankfurt School
4. British cultural studies
5. Feminist research
6. Reception analysis
Effects, Agenda Setting, and Cultivation Analysis
-“Inoculation” theory of communication: built on the idea that media could inject
ideas into people’s heads
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Media seek audiences to inform, enlighten, entertain, and sell to advertisers or pay a fee for the receipt of content. Scholars and social scientists seek to understand the nature of the interaction between the media and their audiences. Members of the industry want to know demographic characteristics so they can pinpoint the characteristics of the audience or product they are selling to advertisers and marketers. With the printing press, the act of communication between the originator of a message and its recipient(s) became increasingly mediated. Digitization and media convergence have been used to break down the distance between media production and consumption. Watching t. v and on their phones@ same time) presents a serious challenge to broadcasters, as it leads to a lowering of the advertising rates they can charge. The point of analyzing media audience relations, however, is not to predict audience behaviour but to understand it.
