Timed Essay Question 6

Question 6: Evaluate the effectiveness of the following theories in understanding how cultural and historical circumstances can affect audience interpretations of news stories: Hall’s reception theory Bandura’s media effects theory. In this essay; I will be discussing how media effects theory and reception theory (as well as other media theories) affect the views of an audience, and the reasons they may interpret a text in a particular way. Media effects theory is the idea that a reader’s view instantly changes and be influenced by reading a text. This view can be regarding a social group, event or topic which is ongoing within the media. The theory suggests that the text within the media acts as a ‘hypodermic syringe’ which suggests the media is heavily influential on the audience’s views. In some cases, this theory may work, for example in public information videos. Many of these videos are produced to scare people and encourage them to be more cautious. This can be done by showing a realistic but fatal, which does initially encourage the audience to be more careful. However, the theory does not hold much weight on the greater scale of the media. This theory assumes that everyone is the same, such as our upbringing and past experiences etc. Therefore, this assumption is very simplistic and is not the case in todays society. A similar theory to media effects, is cultivation theory. This is the idea that the continuous exposure to the same ideology, viewpoints and representations of social groups will slowly ‘cultivate’ and influence the readers viewpoints into replicating the representations. However, unlike media effects theory, this is on a greater timescale and that the audience slowly change their views and ideology after being continuously exposed to an ideology or viewpoint. As a result, the viewer/reader will eventually agree with the media product. However, cultivation theory also has many flaws and may not be entirely accurate. Firstly; most consumers purchase media products which already promote their ideology in the first place, therefore the media cannot cultivate their views if they believe in the ideology already, and consumers are not likely to purchase products which have a different ideology to them. The theory also assumes that everyone is the same, and has the same beliefs etc, like media effects theory. However, everyone is not the same, this is due to our different identities. Our identity comes from multiple factors, this can include a person’s upbringing, friend group, class, age, gender, past exposure to the media etc. Therefore, due to these factors forming someone’s identity, everyone will perceive texts in different ways, as people grow older their identity may change as identity is fluid. An owner of a newspaper may portray the right-wing views in a positive light and promote their beliefs, if they believe in the dominant ideology, however due to consumers having different identities, not everyone will agree with these views and the ideology represented. Therefore, everyone reads a text in a different way. Reception theory suggests that there are three types of ways a consumer can read a text. They can either have a preferred, negotiated or oppositional reading. A preferred reading will be taken by those that believe in the viewpoints and ideology which are promoted within a text. A negotiated reading is when the reader does not either agree with or oppose the text, and an oppositional reading is when the reader disagrees with the views and ideology represented within the text. The type of reading a consumer has to a text will primarily be based on their identity, as these factors will be which contribute to their ideology and beliefs. A consumer will normally purchase a media product because it promotes their views and ideology, and they have a preferred reading towards the text. For example, a tory voter will purchase the Daily Mail, due to them promoting the dominant ideology and having a right-wing bias. Furthermore, end of audience suggests that these readers are an active audience. This means they will take the text and speak about the headlines and subjects presented within the text. For example, a Daily Mail reader may speak about a story in the newspaper on a social media platform like Twitter. They will engage with others that agree with their views and read the Daily Mail, as a result more people will see their views, and this could cultivate others into believing their viewpoints. In conclusion, according to the theories above, cultural and historical circumstances can have a huge effect on the way an audience may interpret a news story. I believe the main factor is a reader’s identity, which comes to peoples upbringing, age, gender, class etc. This can determine whether a reader will have a preferred, negotiated or oppositional reading towards a text. However, some of these theories also have faults, for example media effects theory and cultivation theory. They assume that everyone has the same identity and that everyone is the same, which is not the case in modern society.