Excerpt from Media Institutions and Audiences, Ch. 6 Approaches to Audiences
Pages (144-161) focuses on how advertising influences people's thoughts and behavior. It includes studies from the Frankfurt School and others who study "the effect" of media on our society. The section looked at various hypotheses as to why the media has such an odd but significant impact on customers. The 'uses and gratifications' model, the 'encoding/decoding' model, and ethnography were among the theories considered. These theories explained how an insignificant or false type of media can completely change how you think and act, such as when you watch a political party broadcast and immediately want to vote for them.
Pages (161-171) identified the elements of media such as movies and television that are used to attract and retain an audience's attention. The speed of a series of sharp, short items; the 'latest' news; handheld camera. Equipment for collecting news in abundance. Intensity: emphasizes crime and dramatic incident; visual set focuses on climactic moments. Transparency: a "man of the people" demeanor is adopted by some newscasters, performers, and politicians, and events are condensed. Assumptions of agreement: the world is designed as a global village. These disparate elements come together to form a strategy for approaching and influencing an audience.
Pages (173-end) talks about Stuart Hall's theory that certain media send specific messages, but how audiences perceive them decides how they are read and seen, is discussed in this article. This concept can be expanded to look at why different generations respond to the same texts in such different ways. Traditional meanings, for example, are only vaguely understood by children. Our ability can be influenced by our social status, race, or gender. Considering the audience's social context leads to ethnography, the newest branch of audience research to gain traction.