audience theory

AUDIENCE THEORY

MASS SOCIETY- Modern societies destroy individuality by bringing people under the control of large conglomerates. This means the society are generalised into being controlled by the media and having their thoughts and behaviour influenced by the conglomerates.

FRANKHURT SHOOL feared the power of the mass media and blamed it for destroying free thinking and creativity. As an audience, we are exposed to a large number of media texts per day and we have to think how much of the news it tells us are we passive to and do we believe. They suggested the HYPERDERMIC SYRINGE MODEL.

HYPERDERMIC SYRINGE MODEL

This is where the mass media have a direct and dramatic effect on behaviour. The audience of text is passive and powerless. For my product, this theory will apply. It is common that when we read a newspaper, the younger more vulnerable years digest what we read because a story has been dramatized to make it seem exciting. Journalists also use the treatment value ‘on spot reportage’, to strengthen the successfulness of a newstory. I will be providing on spot reportage for my ‘Teenage girl runs Sunderland 10k article’, to help the reader’s digest the story and be passive to it. The image will help readers imagine the news story and give them powerful imagery which will make the story seem real. Local Newspapers however are distributed on a much smaller scale then national ones. It is more likely this theory would apply to tabloids like ‘The Sun’, or ‘The Daily Mail’, where audiences tend to be passive to what they read, especially if it is a piece of gossip about a celebrity.

 

TWO STEP FLOW
This theory is all about opinion leaders passing on messages to an audience. Opinion leaders pay close attention to the mass media. They pass on their own interpretation of the media content to the receiver. This theory s relevant to my product, because as I am the editor of the paper, I am therefore the opinion leader. I have to filter down news to make my audience receive I the way I want them to receive it, just like editors of the Sun or Daily Mail do with the news they receive. Opinion leader are very influential to the masses as they are providing them with news that they have maybe altered or tampered with.
Personal influence- this refers to the passitivity of the audience. Will audiences willingly swallow everything they receive from an opinion leader or will they question the news they read about?

Uses and gratifications (Bulmer and Katz 19740)

This theory stresses how audience are not passive BUT in charge, stating there is no such thing as a single mass audience.

Also suggests that audience are highly differentiated eg class, race, sex, religion, nationality, and all have their own opinions.

Researchers in 1970 argued that audience need certain psychological needs from media texts which are classed as ‘Uses and Gratifications’. These are a need for..

·         Information

·         A personal identity

·         Social interaction

·         Entertainment

The media then has its own uses and pleasure for its audiences which are…

·         Regularity and structuring (scheduling, availability etc)

·         Shared experiences, a sense of community.

·         Audience identification- looking at characters and thinking they are like them/not like them

·         Educational uses

·         Escapism

·         Peoples centred needs

MY PRODUCT IN RELATION TO USES AND GRATIFICATIONS

Regularity and structuring – this is one of the main gratifications. Media texts distribute their product so it can fit in with the schedule of its target audience, to make it more convenient and accessible. It aims in integrates itself into rhythms and routines of home life. By doing this it also enables audience to plan their day and offers them a means of organisation, what time they need to be in for their favourite show etc. For my product, I will look at existing products that have a similar target audience to learn what structuring would be most convenient for them. Local Newspapers are distributed daily and sold in Newsagents close to metro and bus stops, a convenient place for the audience to buy it coming home from work. ‘Sunderland Life’ will also be produced daily, to appeal to my target audience who are used to being update with city news on a daily basis.

Social interaction + virtual community- this is where the audience are rewarded from a product as it is a means of conversation and they can go away and talk about it with friends. They also gain gratification from social inclusion. It also gives a diverse audience something to share. To miss something in the media which you are usually a regular r audience can mean exclusion from conversation. For example, the audience of my product will be able to talk about the new stories amongst a diverse group of people within the area of Sunderland as the regionality is something they all have in common. Both males and females, all ethnicities and a collection of age ranges can discuss and share their favourite new stories from my product which they can gain gratification from. The fact that the local newspaper is their every day may seem demanding for the audience, and to keep with the conversation they will feel pressure to purchase the product daily and discuss the local news with their friends. The fact for my ancillary task I am creating a webpage also shows makes it more accessible for audiences who haven’t had the chance to go out the house or the time to purchase the paper.

Audience Identification –in order to maximise produces potential, makers often try and reflect the target audience’s age, gender and interests within their product, meaning the audience can identify with characters/situations. Identification and relating yourself to a character is one of the main gratifications within a product.

Within my product I will intend to reflect my diverse target audience in attempt to maximise potential sales. For my new stories, I have tried to base them on people with different ages and genders.

For one of my new stories I have selected a teenage girl, which the teenage audience will be able to identify with. She is running for charity, and will be an inspiration as well as portraying teenagers in a positive light.

People who can identify with her:

For another news story I have based it on a granddad who has been killed in a hit and run. Family in general will be able to respond and relate to this article who have grandfathers/dads and wouldn’t know what to do without them. They will be able to sympathise with the old man’s family. Similarly, men of a similar age will thank it was themselves, or understand how much pain his relatives will be going through.

The fact audiences will be able to identify with the people in my articles will make my product more appealing and make them want to continually buy it.

I will also be reflecting different job roles in my articles. For example my main article will be based on farmers. In other articles I will be making references from locals and include their job roles, e.g. 'Wendy 35, stay at home mother', or 'Bob 43, Brick Layer'.

Education- people learn from the media. It is argued that although media is not always issue based, issues arise naturally as a consequence of the entertainment. As well as entertaining the viewers, it also offers secondary educational or informative function. My product, although to some extent is to entertain, has a fundamental purpose of educating the local people with the latest news of what’s happening in their town. People go to a local newspaper with expectations of the product, it’s going to provide information and interesting news that may affect their life or values. My audience will therefore be educated primarily. For example, my Seafront renovation will provide information on the funding, the ideas and the decisions behind it. My Sunderland 10k article will include a brief synopsis of Alzheimer’s disease for readers who are unsure.

Escapism- the media is a form of escapism. Audiences can go and watch an action adventure in it and get lost, forgetting their own problems and simply enjoying the entertainment. One of the chief gratifications is the sense of removal to ‘elsewhere’ for a part of the day. My product does contain elements of escapism, although not as many as other products such as TV dramas and novels. The Medias intentions is to portray low points of characters’ lives, leaving audiences feeling superior to other characters (rather them than me). My product reflects real life so there isn’t much room for audiences to get lost in the product. When reading my product, audiences will be stepping into the lives of other people briefly. For them to hear and read about other people’s problems may be a rest from thinking about their own, there is lots of conventions within the local newspaper there to prevent them from getting too sucked into the product, for example, ‘win tickets for bowling’. This reminds the audience what the product is.Research shows that audiences aren’t particularly interested in happy endings for dramas and films. Here escapism could apply to my product as I do have a news story where the ‘negativity’ news value is present. One results in the death of a granddad in a hit and run. Rather than audiences gaining satisfaction and superiority from this though, they will maybe see their problems as nothing to the man’s family’s grief and re-think their unhappiness. My main article will offer brief escapism for the audience, as it is humorous. The fact a highland cow has made its way to local supermarket will act as light relief from troubles for the audiences something nice and refreshing to read.

Centred needs- the media fulfills everyone’s centred needs. The media is intent on delivering entertainment because it sells. For my product, I have researched what makes newspaper articles entertaining, and found it is a collection of news values and the inclusion of treatment values. This means injecting dramatic effects and on the spot reportage into my articles to make them more interesting for the target audiences.