Key Terms Media forms Film is a form of media, print is
another. The study guide requires us to look at a variety of forms
of media. Media text any product related to media, e.g. a film, a
television programme, a book, a magazine, a newspaper, an
advertisement, etc. Communication theories There is no single
correct theory of media influence; they are all attempts to explain
the perceived power of the media. We refer to perceived power as
the theories vary from one extreme to the other.
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Media for the masses The first television broadcast took place
in 1939 & brought with it a new range of fears concerning media
influence. Television created new markets, advertising products and
an instant visual means of getting information across to a mass
audience. People began to worry about advertising and its potential
to influence
Slide 4
Early Studies Psychologists have used various methods to
investigate the effects of the media, including laboratory
experiments and studies of children in their everyday lives One of
the most famous laboratory experiment was by psychologist Albert
Bandura, and was carried out in the 1960s. It is known as the Bobo
doll experiment.
Slide 5
Bobo doll experiment The Bobo doll experiment was conducted by
Albert Bandura in 1961. He was trying to prove that aggressive
behaviour was learned through observing and imitating others. In
this experiment three groups of children saw a film which showed an
adult attacking an inflatable doll with a stick. When the children
had seen the film, they were given the same doll. Bandura observed
their behaviour and concluded that the children imitated the
aggressive behaviour.
Slide 6
Slide 7
Bobo doll cont Banduras methodology was less than perfect. What
problems can you see in it? The sole purpose of a Bobo doll is to
bounce back up when knocked over; to act as a target. Therefore,
the children in the experiment were likely to hit the target Bobo
doll for fun because this is what it is designed for. Sample group
was small and all from the same socio economic background. The
experiment is important because it sparked many more studies about
the effects that viewing violence had on children.
Slide 8
Evaluating & Analysing Some questions to ask yourself when
analysing studies associated with issues of media studies. Under
what kinds of conditions were the tests held? Was the testing
realistic? Was the room or environment perhaps influential in
relation to the results, eg; could participants have been
uncomfortable or affected by their surrounds? Are the participants
a balanced representation of a cross section of that particular
population? Eg; consider age, background, socio-economics, etc
Slide 9
Evaluating cont Were there any pay-offs or rewards for
participants? If so, could this have affected the results? Was the
study held under controlled conditions (empirically based) or are
the results based on anecdotal references? Are there any
coincidences in the findings? Or have statistical averages been
referred to? Eg; sometimes in a newspaper you will read blanket
statements concerning research on particular topics on average most
children under ten eat too much junk food. Who conducted the study
and where? How valid was it?
Slide 10
Theories and Models These terms are used interchangeably but
for the record: A theory is a set of systematically related
generalisations suggesting new observations for empirical testing A
model is a theoretical and simplified representation of the real
world. It is often useful to help illustrate a theory.
Slide 11
Theories of media influence Although there are numerous
theories which attempt to explain the impact of the media we will
only examine 5. Bullet/Hypodermic theory Uses & Gratification
theory Reinforcement theory Agenda setting function theory
Postmodernist theory
Slide 12
Bullet/Hypodermic theory It was developed in the 1920s &
30s after researchers observed the effect of propaganda during
World War I and incidents such as Orson Welles War of the Worlds
broadcast. Rose to popularity in the 1940s and 50s when the Payne
Fund Studies Group and the Frankfurt School of Germany presented
concerns about the power of the media. It became the dominant way
of thinking about media influence during these decades.
Slide 13
Bullet/Hypodermic theory The Hypodermic Needle theory is a
linear communication theory which suggests that a media message is
injected, or shot directly into the brain of a passive, homogenous
audience. This theory assumes that no matter what audiences are
presented with, by the media, individuals should understand &
be affected by it in the same way. The model suggests information
travels in a linear fashion and that texts are closed.
Slide 14
Bullet/Hypodermic theory
Slide 15
Nazis & Propaganda Frankfurt school who were a group of
mainly Jewish intellectuals very concerned at watching Hitler come
to power. Joseph Goebbels was Hitlers minister for propaganda and
in 1933 when the Nazis came to power and he played a crucial role
in taking over all the radio stations as well as all the newspapers
and magazines. They saw the media as a crucial part of their rise
to power. The people could not resist the influence of Hitlers
message through radio, how else could 38 million people become so
supportive of him in such a short time. The bullet theory could be
used to explain how Hitler could convert a nation to follow
him.
Slide 16
War of the Worlds One of the most famous examples of the most
supposed efficacy of the bullet theory is H.G. Wells broadcast of
War of the Worlds. In this radio play Welles chose to broadcast the
play in the style of a news broadcast where Martians were invading
the earth. United States experienced mass hysteria--most pronounced
on the east coast in New York and New Jersey--in response to a
radio broadcast. Although the % of actual hysterical people is
disputed the reaction prompted many studies into the influence of
the media.
Slide 17
War of the worlds
Slide 18
Bullet/Hypodermic theory FLAWS & WEAKNESSES Far too
simplistic Not possible for everyone to receive & understand a
message in the same way as others, because various things interfere
in the process. Ignores interpretation which is a crucial part of
the communication process. The theory was never tested empirically
but rather based on anecdotal viewpoints. If this theory was
correct then we would have 100% acceptance of any media message
transmitted to an audience. This has never been true.
Slide 19
Uses & Gratification theory Origin in USA in the 1940s and
Paul Lazarfelds work. Then refined by Elihu Katz in 1959 and Bulmer
in the 70s Shifted attention away from the message makers to the
message receivers. Uses and Gratification theorists believe that
the media has no power at all over peoples attitudes & beliefs.
The central focus for their thinking was that audiences used the
media to satisfy their needs. The audience has the power, not the
media. Assumes that audiences are active Texts are open (to
interpretation) and being read in different ways
Slide 20
Uses & Gratification theory They believe; That the media
doesnt affect society at all because people make use of the media,
rather the media making use of them. Audiences consume the media
type they want tune into TV & radio stations; read newspapers
& magazines. They consume the media because they like what they
are getting. If they dont like it they will not consume it.
Therefore they have the power over the media. Audiences use the
media and are gratified by the media for their own purposes, eg;
audiences watch soap operas to gratify some level of emotional and
entertainment needs.
Slide 21
Uses & Gratification theory When you come home from a hard
day and you want to veg out you choose a particular radio or
television station to suit your needs, comedy, music, the newspaper
or whatever. The ratings measure what you want and respond to your
needs according to what you want. If there is nothing on that you
want to consume you are likely to do something else. The media
industry to this day are uses and gratification theorists as
ratings have a direct effects on what is aired. If a media product
isnt consumed it will go out of circulation.
Slide 22
Uses & Gratification theory FLAWS & WEAKNESSES Too neat
& prescriptive Although it states that the audience has the
power it does not specify what influence the media does have.
Although it acknowledges that audiences are not a single mass in
relation to the text, it fails to recognize that individuals often
interact in groups away from the text
Slide 23
Reinforcement theory Developed by a traditional sociologist
called Joseph Klapper in the 1960s in the USA. Klapper basically
agreed with the Uses & Gratification theorists with one
significant modification. He argued that if a person believes
something, it is usually because of the influence of their family,
peer group, religion, school, job, or social class, etc. Therefore
the media can only reinforce that belief that we already have
positively or negatively.
Slide 24
Reinforcement theory Klappers point was Where do we get our
values and opinions from? We get them from our family, we get them
from our peer group, from our education process, from our religious
institutions, from our work and from our social class. They are the
traditional socialising agencies and this is where Klapper was
coming from as a traditional sociologist. He said the media doesnt
actually activate change, it simply reinforces it.
Slide 25
Reinforcement theory Klapper asked a question which Uses &
Gratification theorists had not considered. What occurs when the
media starts talking about something which has never been talked
about before? Something that your socialising agents (parents, peer
group, school, etc) had never heard of or talked about. He believed
that when the media introduces something new that it has the
potential to shape & influence opinion by reporting and
presenting particular issues in a particular way. Because there
were no other socialising influences forming our opinions, because
something was new and unheard of, then the media has the power to
form and influence how we respond to these new and particular
issues.
Slide 26
Reinforcement theory On these rare occasions when the media can
influence the public, it is only for a for a short period of time,
until other traditional sources of influence in society become
aware of the issue. Once the traditional socialising agencies
become aware of the new issue they will once again become the
dominant influence that shapes public opinion and the medias
temporary power will dissipate. Klapper sees all text as open and
the individuals as active.
Slide 27
Reinforcement theory FLAWS Puts all the onus on the individual
rather than the media. Claims that the media is too weak.
Slide 28
Agenda Setting Function theory Developed 1972 by Maxwell
McCombs and Donald Shaw in their study of the role of the media in
the 1968 presidential campaign. This theory came out of a swing
back to considering that the media was important. That the media
had to be understood at a deeper level. Agenda Setting Function
Theory in a nut shell says the media cant tell you what to think
(bullet theory), but it can tell you what to think about. The media
can set the agenda about what is discussed. They are able to do
this by the process of selection and omission. This is sometimes
called gatekeeping.
Slide 29
Agenda Setting Function theory Gate-keeping is the idea that on
one hand the media allows certain things to be discussed & on
the other hand not discussed (or shut out). The media has the
ability to give one side of the story far more prominence, so for
example in wartime the media frame the arguments for our side of
the conflict clearly and profoundly while downplaying or omitting
entirely the opposing point of view. By doing this the media can
not only tell us what we should be thinking about but can also give
us a preferred reading on the given issue. Try to tell us which
parts of an issue are important and which are not.
Slide 30
Agenda Setting Function theory The most famous example of
agenda setting was work done by the Glasgow media group in the
1970s The Glasgow media group was interested in how the news was
prioritised as it came into the newsroom. What would a news
bulletin set as its agenda. They researched what lead news
bulletins, what came second in a report and so on. They showed that
the news does have priorities and does indicate with these
priorities what importance events are given. You can then set the
agenda of what is important, what is significant.
Slide 31
Agenda Setting Function theory STRENGTHS May explain why many
people prioritise the same issues as important If people are
exposed to the same media, they may feel the same issues are
important. WEAKNESSESS An audience may pay only casual and
intermittent attention to public affairs and remain ignorant of the
details. For people who have made up their minds, the effect is
weakened.
Slide 32
Post modernism Developed during the 1980s by The French School
(Derrida, Baudrillard, Lyotard) Postmodernism opposes the idea that
society & culture can be understood by using one or two big
theories to explain everything. Has the view that every individual
member of society has their own way of reading a media product. The
media has little power, if any. Texts are always open
Slide 33
Post modernism No such thing as a preferred or dominant
reading. Suggests any media product or event is interpreted and
understood differently by individuals with different values &
different ways of looking & reacting to the world. Open text
theory means that everything is relative. Our meanings are always
changing. The meanings will create change. There is no truth. Truth
depends on who you are and at what time and what place you exist
in.
Slide 34
Post modernism Watch a film that you know you watched 5, 10,15,
20 years ago. The film is the same, shot for shot but your
interpretation of it, is that the same? Watch that same film in
2015, 2020, again clearly the text remains the same in terms of the
content, what about your interpretation, Is that the same? After
all those years youre not the same person, now you, an individual
have a different interpretation of that film. Because you, not the
text has changed, the meaning has changed because of you.
Slide 35
Post modernism Postmodernists dont like to group responses
together, they believe that people are unique in relation to
everybody else, and change over time. Nothing in terms of media
influence is certain because all that can be noted is that this is
an individuals response right now It is important to note that with
postmodernism there is no such thing as an authority on a
particular issue & that everybodys opinion is equally
valid.
Slide 36
Summary These theories are simply ideas or understandings there
is no right or wrong theory. Clearly there are overlaps occurring
between the theories. How you see the media and the effects on
audience absolutely depends on how you conceive the processes of
communication. Whether you think of the media as all powerful
shaping the way we think about the world or whether you think our
social climate and our social context determines what we take from
the media.