Media

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Media Audiences Theories about the Role of the
Media in everyday life.

• Chapter 10. Pages 253-289

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Preview of slides

• Overview
• Uses Gratification Theory
• Reception Studies
• Information Processing Theory
• Information Processing Model

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• OVERVIEW
• 1970s 1980s researchers in US became
  increasingly interested on media audience. Their
  attempt was to gain more useful information about
  audience. As more studies were carried out the
  Audience Centered Theories were also developed.

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Active Audience Theory or (Audience Centered
Theory)

• This theory focus on assessing on what people
  do with media. It does not focus on what the
  media do to the people. This theory is
  micro-level in its approach.
• The argument for such theories were quite
  convincing. E.g. why were advertisers spend
  billion of dollars to purchase advertising time
  if the messages on the media has no effect on
  the audience ? Why were the TV network audience
  still growing?

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A. Uses Gratification Theory

• Herzog (1944) was the first to create the theory
  of Uses Gratification. He identify 3 types of
  gratifications
• 1. Gratification as a means of emotional release
• 2. Gratification as opportunities of wishful
  thinking
• 3. Gratification as the advice obtained from
  listening to daytime radio programme.

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• Schramm (1954) continued to offer the
  gratification theory by describing how individual
  make media and content choices based on
  expectation of reward and effort required.
• Schramm argued that our decision to select the
  content materials based on our expectations of
  having some need met, even if the decision is not
  to make a choice.

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The revival of Uses Gratification thinking

• The scenario
• By 1970 the limited effects paradigm had
  demonstrated study after study media role was
  found to marginal in comparison the effect it
  had with other social factors.
• But the question that trouble researchers mind
  were that how could this be true when media
  audiences were on the increase people spend so
  much time consuming media? Why were advertisers
  spend billion of dollars to purchase advertising
  time if their message had no effect?

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• Why were the network television audiences
  continue to grow? Didn't any of the media use
  have important consequences for the people who
  were engaged in it? Why didnt research found
  these reasoning?

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• Therefore the first revival interest among
  researchers looking into the Uses
  Gratifications perspectives can be traced into
  three development areas such as
• A. 1. New survey research into methods
  data analysis techniques to allow new
  studies to be developed.
• 2. The increasing in awareness that peoples
  are active in using the media.
• 3. Although some researchers found that
  there were some positive uses of the
  media but these findings were often ignored.

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• The second revival was because of the
• rapid diffusion of Internet World Wide Web
  (www) led to the intensity use of the media
  aggressively (interactively).
• In other words researchers began to examine the
  issues of
• (a) Interactivity i.e. the degree to which
  participants in the communication process have
  control over, can change roles in their mutual
  discourse (Williams, Rice Rogers, 1988)

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• (b) Demassification i.r. the ability of media
  audience to select from a wide range of media
  the characteristics that allow individuals to
  tailor messages to their needs (e.g. internet)
  Rugeriero, 2000.
• .

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• (c) Asynchroneity (mediated messages) i.e.
  senders receivers of electronic messages can
  read mail at different times still interact
  conveniently

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• In other words uses gratification theory proved
  to useful in explaining how why the new media
  are use to supplement in some cases replace
  older media.

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• Blumler (1979) claimed that one of the major
  problem in using the uses gratification theory
  is the ability this theory capable of explaining
  a wide range of meaning on the concept of
  activity. He identified several meanings for this
  term as follows
• (1) Utility i.e. media have uses for people
  people can put media to those uses.
• (2) Intentionality i.e. that consumption of
  media content can be directed by peoples
  motivations.

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• (3) Selectivity i.e. People use of the media
  might reflect their existing interests
  preferences.
• (4) Imperviousness to influence i.e. audience
  will certainly try to avoid certain types of
  media.

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• What the uses gratification theory does is to
  provide a framework for understanding when how
  different media consumers, involvement in the
  media.
• Katz, Blumler, Gurevitch (1974) described five
  elements in the uses gratifications model

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• 1. The media is active its media use is goal
  oriented.
• 2. The initiative link to the need gratification
  to the media choice rests with the audience
  member.
• 3. The media compete with other sources for
  need satisfaction.
• 4. Audience are self aware of their own media
  use, interest motivates to be able to provide
  with an accurate picture of that use.
• 5. Value judgments linking to the need of
  specific media content should be suspended.
  That means people can use the same content in
  vary different ways therefore the same
  content should have very different
  consequences.

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• With above conclusions the researches raised
  other questions, such as
• What factors effecting the level of activeness of
  media use among audience? What other factors in
  the environment (social situations) influence
  audience needs of which media use?

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• Katz, Blumler Gurevitch (1974) explained that
  the social situations involving media related
  needs as follows
• 1. Social situation can produced tensions
  conflicts, leading to pressure to utilize or
  consumed certain selected media.
• 2. Social situations can create an awareness of
  problems that demand attention thus, to fulfill
  this demand, information could be obtained form
  the media.
• 3. Social situations can deprive your real life
  opportunity to satisfy these needs, and media
  can substitute this need instead.

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• 4. Social situations can transmit certain
  specific value which also can be obtained
  from certain media.
• 5. Social situation can provide anticipated
  familiarity with the media which must be met in
  order to fulfilled the aspirations of the
  social group norms.

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Uses Gratifications

• STRENGTH
• Focus attention of individuals in the mass
  communication process.
• Respect intellect ability of media consumers.
• Provides insightful analysis of how people
  experience media contents.
• Differentiate active use of the media from more
  passive uses.
• Studies of the use of media as part of our
  everyday social interaction.
• Provides useful insight into adoption of new
  media,

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• WEAKNESSES
• Alliance on functional analysis can create
  status quo orientation
• Cannot easily addressed the present or absent of
  media effects.
• Measurement of key concepts is criticized. It is
  too micro-level orientation.

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B. Reception Studies or Reception Analysis

• This is an audience centered theory that focuses
  on how various types of audience members make
  sense of media contents.
• 1. Critical theorists view that the producer
  intended meaning of the piece of content the
  assumption was to reinforced the status quo
  also known as preferred reading.

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• 2. or audience provide an alternative
  interpretation which is known as the negotiated
  reading.
• 3. or It is also possible that the audience
  made an interpretation is directly opposite to
  the preferred reading which is also known as
  the oppositional decoding.

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• STRENGTHS
• Focus attention on individuals.
• Respect intellectual ability of audience.
• Acknowledge range of meanings.
• Seek in-depth understanding of how people
  interpret media content.
• Can provide an insightful analysis the way media
  are used in everyday social contect.

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• WEAKNESS
• Based on subjective interpretation of audience
  report.
• Cannot address the presence or absence of
  effects.
• Qualitative research methods preclude causal
  explanation.
• Too micro level in its orientation.

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C. Frame Analysis

• This analysis deals with the idea about how
  people use expectations to make sense of everyday
  life.
• In other words the expectations we get from the
  media are based from
• (a) Previous experience (through media or
  personal).
• (b) Pudience can be quite resistant to change
  despite of having all the factual information.

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• (c) Audience can associated with
  emotions such as hate, fear, love.
• (d) It is difficult to control despite of
  having all the factual information

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• Goffman (1974) theory of Frame analysis provides
  us with a systematic account of how we use our
  expectations to make sense of our everyday life
  situations.
• Goffman was convinced that the daily life is much
  more complicated than it appears.
• He argued that we often change the way we define
  the situations as people moves through space
  time. In other words our experience of the world
  constantly shifting, sometimes in major ways
  other times not.

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• We always monitor the social environment for
  social cues that signal when are to make the
  change.
• Goffman therefore used the term frame to refer to
  a specific set of expectations that are used to
  make sense of a social situation at a given point
  of time.

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• But when we are ready to move from one set of
  frames to another we then said to applied the
  downshift or upshift. We are expected to change
  frames depending the seriousness of the case.

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• That is we move back forth between serious
  less serious sets of expectations.
• It is just like an animal cubs acquiring skill of
  catching frogs butterfly and as the cubs grows
  maturity these skills are transfer to a more
  serious situations to kill when the animal grows
  up in order to survive. These skills were learned
  at the early stage.

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• According to Goffman daily life involves
  countless shifts in frames these shifts are
  negotiated by using social cues. Some social cues
  are very conventional while others are subtle.
  E.g. couples usually develop a very complex set
  of cues when to uplift or downshift in their
  interaction.

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• In gender ads for example Goffman argued that
  advertising that uses the sex appeal of women to
  attract attention of men indirectly teaches us
  how social cues were learned that could have a
  serious consequences e.g. stereotyping of women
  etc.
• We learned more than just product presentation.
  We learned vast arrays of other social cues
  thus reinforcing the formation of dominant
  public culture.

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• What we are experiencing here according to Goffmn
  what is known as primary or dominant reality.
  That is in the real world people will obey
  certain conventional accepted rules.

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• In this theory Goffmans focuses on how
  individual learn to routinely trying to make
  sense of their social world that we lived in.
• Goffman provides us with an interesting way that
  we are all attracted of how the media can
  reinforced the dominant public culture. E.g. ads
  did not creates sex-role stereotyping but
  homogenizing how women are publicly depicted.

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• Powerful visual imagery is used to associates
  products with women. Ads both teaches reinforce
  these cues.
• According to Goffman we firmly committed
  ourselves to live in what we experience as part
  of the frame known as the dominant reality
  that is a real world in which people events
  obey certain conventional accepted rules.

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• Thus, according to Goffman we are all prisoners
  of our own reality whatever it might be. And if
  do make mistake with framing the reality the
  result would be devastating.

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• Frame analysis theory as developed by Goffman is
  a microscopic theory. It creates conceptual
  framing theory that focuses how individual learn
  to make sense of their social world through
• the use of the concepts of (a) framing (b) what
  can they learned from the media.

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C. Information Processing Theory.

• This theory discusses the use of mechanistic
  analogies to describe interpret how people deal
  with the flood of information that we they
  receive every day.
• This theory describes individuals as complex
  computers with certain build in information
  capabilities. It can received, recognize, filter,
  make sense, store retrieve information.

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• According to the information processing theory we
  can never be conscious of more than very small
  fraction of the information present in our
  environment

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• One advantage of the information processing
  perspective is that it provides more objective in
  learning.
• We blame ourselves if we fail to learn something
  that we think we should have learned. We assumed
  that a little more conscious effort learning
  would have made the difference. But would that a
  little more efforts would have made much
  difference? Or could that be possible that could
  led you to breakdown?

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• In this case what you need is revamping of your
  routine information handling skills strategies
  that is a transformation of your information
  processing system.
• Information processing theory provides us with a
  means of developing a more objective assessment
  of the mistakes we make when processing
  information. These mistakes are routine outcomes
  from a particular cognitive process not
  personal errors caused by personal failings.

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• By the end of this lesson you have learned the
  following topics as follows
• A. Uses Gratification Theory
• B. Reception Studies
• C. Information Processing Theory