Audience theory 2 - blog tasks

 1) Social learning theory has been criticised for simplifying the causes of violence in society. Do you think the media is responsible for anti-social behaviour and violence?

I think its both a yes and no answer. This is because the media has the power to influence the public's views or interpretation on things but it is also how the public decide to take in the information they get from the media and how they retaliate back at it. 

2) How is social learning theory relevant in the digital age? Are young people now learning behaviour from social media and the internet? Give examples.

Social learning theory is relevant in the digital age as young people are now these days learning new and different types of behaviour from social media such as knife crime. This is because if social media platforms carry on advertising knives even if they are doing it in a appropriate fashion it might still give out the wrong message to younger people from the audience  and persuade them to go out and buy knives so they can use it in their own ways.

3) Research three examples of moral panic from the last 50 years. To what extent was the media responsible for these moral panics? Was the concern in society justified? How have things changed as a result of these moral panics?

1) The millennium bug. This is because back in the early 2000's technology and the digital age was quite new to people back then a problem in the coding of computerised systems that was projected to create havoc in computers and computer networks around the world at the beginning of the year 2000. 

2) Navist movement and the Know-Nothing Party (1840s-1860s). The media dealt with this in a negative way as they were a group of people from Europe trying to get rights to work here in the UK and allowing immigration to take place which during the 1840's was seen as a major problem back then.

3) HIV/AIDS (1980s-1990s). Aids was during the 80's and 90's was seen as a “gay disease” because gay men were one of the primary groups afflicted, HIV and the syndrome it causes, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, were unknown in 1981 but had become household terms and the number one threat to public health by the late 1980s. The media responded to this in a major negative way as they didn't know what this was and didn't know how to stop the spread of AID's and was getting out of control and hand. 

4) Read this introduction to an academic paper on technopanics. What examples are given of technopanics that create fear in society? If the link is blocked in school, you can access the text here.

Child safety, Digital privacy and cyber security

5) Do you think the internet should be regulated? Should the government try and control what we can access online?

I think to some extent, as there are places that some people should definitely avoid in order to stay lawful, for example the 'Dark Web' which although is notorious for being difficult to manage on the internet, can still be accessed by anyone and so as to avoid the use of such places i believe that the government should have some control however if it is not against the law then media of any kind should be available to all as long as its appropriate.

6) Apply Gerbner's cultivation theory to new and digital media. Is the internet creating a fearful population? Are we becoming desensitised to online threats, trolling and abuse? Is heavy internet use something we should be worried about in society? Write a paragraph discussing these ideas.

I think that desensitisation may be becoming a real problem facing society today, as many of the things that are taken in by the consumer/audience definitely warps the perception of some of the things that media includes and can definitely make something seem much more normal than it is in reality such as abuse online which by some may be seen as completely natural in the online-scape but in the real world abuse is absolutely intolerable and unthought of, which could make interactions between some people much more uncomfortable or could lead to situations where someone believes that certain thinks are okay to do when they are not. In terms of becoming a fearful society I do think that because media focuses on getting the biggest stories out quick and finding variety within those stories can provide the idea to a consumer that, in the case of crime, that violence is everywhere and that people are being killed all around them, which may be true in some sense but it completely blows the reality of the situation out of proportion and causes unnecessary stress that then leads to paranoia and fear of the outside world due to the medias interpretation and delivery of this information

The effects debate: Media Factsheet

Complete the following tasks using Media Factsheet 030 - The Effects Debate available on the Media Shared drive. You'll find it in our Media Factsheet archive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. You can also access it via your school Google login here.

Read Media Factsheet 030 - Media and Audiences -The Effects Debate and answer the following questions:

1) Complete the questions in the first activity box (beginning with 'Do you play violent games? Are you violent in real life?')

I do play video games and watch violent films yet in 'real life' I would think that i am almost the complete opposite of violent. Yes I have bought a product that has been advertised online I have watched many documentaries and they have influenced me to focus a lot more on not just the natural world and the importance of it but also society and politics.

2) What are the four categories for different effects theories?

*Direct Effects theories

*Diffusion theories

*Indirect Effects theories 

*The pluralist approach

3) What are the examples provided for the hypodermic needle theory - where media texts have been blamed for certain events? 

Child's play- murder of Jamie Bulger

Marilyn Manson- The columbine high school shootings

Natural born killers- A number of murders committed by romantically linked couples

4) What was the 1999 Columbine massacre? You may need to research this online in addition to the information on the factsheet.

A high school shooting that took place in Columbine high school, in Colorado in 1999 April 20th, where by 2 students after a failed bombing entered the school and had murdered 14 students and 1 teacher before then committing suicide. The media had blamed violent movies for causing this shooting as after this event similar situations took place across the country in different high schools and was dubbed the 'columbine effect'.

5) What are the reasons listed on the factsheet to possibly explain the Columbine High School massacre?

'Listening to Marilyn Manson caused teenagers to open fire on students and teachers'

Complex relationship between:

• The ease of access to firearms and social acceptance to gun ownership
• The alienation felt by the students who felt as though they did not fit in
• The hopelessness caused by living in an area where unemployment is high  and was economically disadvantaged
• The general desensitisation caused by access to a range of violent images, film, TV, news, Internet (argument in Bowling for Columbine)

6) How does the factsheet describe Gerbner's Cultivation theory?

The key ideas are that through constant repetition of attitudes, ideas and values become normalised or naturalised and are accepted rather than considered while the audience also becomes more desensitised to negative and violent representations within the media. It is also a theory that states that media affects attitudes towards certain ideas and values rather than affecting our behaviour as repeated exposure to these ideas make them seem 'Normal'. 

7) What does the factsheet suggest about action films and the values and ideologies that are reinforced with regards to violence?

Violence for a good reason should be accepted while violence for a bad reason should be punished. 

8) What criticisms of direct effect theories are suggested in the factsheet?

The audience/consumer is assumed to be passive and not self aware while also labelling things like video games as influencing normalisation of violence yet do no think the same towards 'high art' such as the highly violent plays of Shakespeare. 

9) Why might the 1970s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour be considered so controversial today? What does this tell us about Reception theory and how audiences create meanings?

Love thy neighbour is seen as more controversial today as the comedy within the sitcom is seen as being racist and offensive. That with time social changes create ideas that become more or less accepted in society and so the way we perceive a piece of media is ultimately influenced by societies contemporary views in conjunction with personal views.

10) What examples are provided for Hall's theory of preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings?

Dominant - Acceptance of intended meaning

Negotiated - A broad acceptance of meaning with own personal modification

Oppositional - An understanding of the intended meaning but a rejection of it in favour of one created by the individual