Audience

AUDIENCE THEORY
MEDIATED AUDIENCES
 Audiences who consume texts or speeches
through television, radio, and Internet are
considered mediated audiences because those
mediums separate the rhetoric and the audience.
ACTIVE AUDIENCE THEORY
 Active audience theory argues that media
audiences do not just receive information
passively but are actively involved, often
unconsciously, in making sense of the message
within their personal and social contexts.
Decoding of a media message may therefore be
influenced by such things as family background,
beliefs, values, culture, interests, education and
experiences
 Other theories and models are compatible with
active audience theory, including the
Encoding/Decoding model and the Uses and
gratifications theory, which states that audiences
are actively involved in determining what media
they engage with and how, in order to gratify
specific needs or desires.
 Active audience theory is seen as a direct
contrast to the Effects traditions, however Jenny
Kitzinger argues against discounting the effect or
influence media can have on an audience,
acknowledging that an active audience does not
mean that media effect or influence is not
possible.
 Supporting this view, other theories combine the
concepts of active audience theory and the effects
model, such as the two step flow theory where
Katz and Lazarsfeld argue that persuasive media
texts are filtered through opinion leaders who are
in a position to 'influence' the targeted audience
through social networks and peer groups.
HYPODERMIC NEEDLE MODEL
 The hypodermic needle model (also known as

the hypodermic-syringe model,
transmission-belt model, or magic bullet
theory) is a model of communications suggesting
that an intended message is directly received and
wholly accepted by the receiver. The model is
rooted in 1930s behaviorism and is largely
considered obsolete today.
 The "Magic Bullet" theory graphically assumes
that the media's message is a bullet fired from
the "media gun" into the viewer's "head" (Berger
1995). Similarly, the "Hypodermic Needle Model"
uses the same idea of the "shooting" paradigm. It
suggests that the media injects its messages
straight into the passive audience (Croteau,
Hoynes 1997). This passive audience is
immediately affected by these messages
 The public essentially cannot escape from the
media's influence, and is therefore considered a
"sitting duck" (Croteau, Hoynes 1997). Both
models suggest that the public is vulnerable to
the messages shot at them because of the limited
communication tools and the studies of the
media's effects on the masses at the time (Davis,
Baron 1981). It means the media explores
information in such a way that it injects in the
mind of audiences as bullets.
 The most famous incident often cited as an
example for the hypodermic needle model was
the 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds and
the subsequent reaction of widespread panic
among its American mass audience
 Lazarsfeld disproved the "Magic Bullet" theory
and "Hypodermic Needle Model Theory" through
elections studies in "The People's Choice"
(Lazarsfeld, Berelson, Gaudet 1944/1968).
Lazarsfeld and colleagues executed the study by
gathering research during the election of
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940. The study was
conducted to determine voting patterns and the
relationship between the media and political
power.
 Lazarsfeld discovered that the majority of the
public remained unfazed by propaganda
surrounding Roosevelt's campaign. Instead,
interpersonal outlets proved more influential
than the media.
 Therefore, Lazarsfeld concluded that the effects
of the campaign were not all powerful to the
point where they completely persuaded "helpless
audiences", a claim that the Magic Bullet,
Hypodermic Needle Model, and Lasswell
asserted. These new findings also suggested that
the public can select which messages affect and
don't affect them.
 Lazarsfeld's debunking of these models of
communication provided the way for new ideas
regarding the media's effects on the public.
Lazarsfeld introduced the idea of the two step
flow model of communication in 1944. The two
step flow model assumes that ideas flow from the
mass media to opinion leaders and then to the
greater public (Katz, Lazarsfeld 1955).
 They believed the message of the media to be
transferred to the masses via this opinion
leadership. Opinion leaders are categorized as
individuals with the best understanding of media
content and the most accessibility to the media as
well. These leaders essentially take in the
media's information, and explain and spread the
media's messages to others (Katz, 1957).
 Thus, the two step flow model and other
communication theories suggest that the media
does not directly have an influence on viewers
anymore. Instead, interpersonal connections and
even selective exposure play a larger role in
influencing the public in the modern age
(Severin, Tankard 1979).
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY
 Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an

approach to understanding why and how people
actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific
needs. UGT is an audience-centered approach to
understanding mass communication. Diverging
from other media effect theories that question
"what does media do to people?", UGT focuses on
"what do people do with media?”
 Why do people use media and what do they use
them for? UGT discusses how users deliberately
choose media that will satisfy given needs and
allow one to enhance knowledge, relaxation,
social interactions/companionship, diversion, or
escape
 It assumes that audience members are not
passive consumers of media. Rather, the audience
has power over their media consumption and
assumes an active role in interpreting and
integrating media into their own lives.
 Unlike other theoretical perspectives, UGT holds
that audiences are responsible for choosing media
to meet their desires and needs to achieve
gratification. This theory would then imply that
the media compete against other information
sources for viewers' gratification.
ASSUMPTIONS OF THE THEORY
 The audience is active and its media use is goal

oriented
 The initiative in linking need gratification to a
specific medium choice rests with the audience
member
 The media compete with other resources for need
satisfaction
 People have enough self-awareness of their
media use, interests, and motives to be able to
provide researchers with an accurate picture of
that use.
 Value judgments of media content can only be
assessed by the audience.
HEURISTIC APPROACH OF UGT
(FIVE COMPONENTS)
 The audience is conceived as active.
 In the mass communication process, much initiative
in linking gratification and media choice lies with the
audience member.
 The media compete with other sources of satisfaction.
 Methodologically speaking, many of the goals of mass
media use can be derived from data supplied by
individual audience members themselves.
 Value judgments about the cultural significance of
mass communication should be suspended while
audience orientations are explored on their own
terms.
GOALS FOR MEDIA USE
 The audience wants to:

 be informed or educated
 identify with characters of the situation in the

media environment
 simple entertainment
 enhance social interaction
 escape from the stresses of daily life

Audience

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AUDIENCE THEORY

 The hypodermic needle model (also known as

 Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an

 The audience is active and its media use is goal

 The audience wants to:

 identify with characters of the situation in the

 enhance social interaction

 escape from the stresses of daily life

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