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HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY

This theory suggests that the audience is passive, rather than active, and the media producers assume that the audience all like the same genre- no matter what their age, race, social background etc. The media text is “injected” into the audience by the powerful media producers.

It is supposed to be out of date, but that could be contradicted by shows such as “Big Brother” and other reality TV shows. Although many people dislike Big Brother, it is still being aired so it’s still successful, whether we think of ourselves as an active audience or not.

TWO STEP FLOW

Developed mainly in the 1940’s, this idea implied that there would be an opinion leader, who would give their ideas to a public speaker, who would then give the ideas to the audience.

It could be used today in media texts, as the media producers would tell things to people who would then communicate this with the audience.

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY

This theory suggests that the audience has four basic needs:To surveyTo divertTo confirm relationshipsTo confirm identity

However, we obviously have more than four needs, and our viewing habits are all different, thus making us an ACTIVE audience. We can use the media texts, and not be used by it, and use it for our own gratification.

Therefore, we have more power over the media producers as they have to cater for our different needs.

AUDIENCE RECEPTION THEORY

The media has to cater for different needs, as the audience is more active and more diverse, and have to acknowledge this.

The media producers have to accept that media texts can be polycemic, and try to manipulate the text to be a preferred reading.

One of the most common ways for media creators to secure a preferred reading of a text is through ANCHORING. E.g. anchoring an image with text so the audience can see what is being advertised.