Media Theories
Cultivation Theory: Gerbner
Exposure to television over long periods of time cultivates standardised roles and behaviours. Gerbner used content analysis to analyse repeated media messages and values, then found that heavy users of television were more likely, for example, to develop ‘mean world syndrome’ – a cynical, mistrusting attitude towards others – following prolonged exposure to high levels of television violence.
Gerbner found that heavy TV viewing led to ‘mainstreaming’ – a common outlook on the world based on the images and labels on TV. Mainstreamers would describe themselves as politically moderate.
Media Effects: Bandura
The media can influence people directly – human values, judgement and conduct can be altered directly by media modelling. Empirical evidence best supports direct influence rather than the alternative models of media effects: two-step flow, agenda-setting, no effects, or the media reflecting existing attitudes and behaviour.
Media representations of aggressive or violent behaviour can lead to imitation.
The media may influence directly or by social networks, so people can be influenced by media
messages without being exposed to them.
Different media have different effects. The ‘new’ media offer opportunities for self-directedness.
Fandom: Jenkins
Fans act as ‘textual poachers’ – taking elements from media texts to create their own culture.
The development of the ‘new’ media has accelerated ‘participatory culture’, in which audiences are
active and creative participants rather than passive consumers. They create online communities,
produce new creative forms, collaborate to solve problems, and shape the flow of media. This generates ‘collective intelligence’.
From this perspective, convergence is a cultural process rather than a technological one.
Jenkins prefers the term ‘spreadable media’ to terms such as ‘viral’, as the former emphasises the
active, participatory element of the ‘new’ media.
End of Audience Theories: Shirky
In the ‘old’ media, centralised producers addressed atomised consumers; in the ‘new’ media, every
consumer is now a producer. Traditional media producers would ‘filter then publish’; as many ‘new’ media producers are not employees, they ‘publish then filter’.
These amateur producers have different motivations to those of professionals – they value autonomy,
competence, membership and generosity. User-generated content creates emotional connection
between people who care about something. This can generate a cognitive surplus – for example,
Wikipedia can aggregate people’s free time and talent to produce value that no traditional medium could match.
‘The Audience’ as a mass of people with predictable behaviour is gone. Now, behaviour is variable
across different sites, with some of the audience creating content, some synthesising content and some consuming content. The ‘old’ media created a mass audience. The ‘new’ media provide a platform for people to provide value for each other.
Exposure to television over long periods of time cultivates standardised roles and behaviours. Gerbner used content analysis to analyse repeated media messages and values, then found that heavy users of television were more likely, for example, to develop ‘mean world syndrome’ – a cynical, mistrusting attitude towards others – following prolonged exposure to high levels of television violence.
Gerbner found that heavy TV viewing led to ‘mainstreaming’ – a common outlook on the world based on the images and labels on TV. Mainstreamers would describe themselves as politically moderate.
Media Effects: Bandura
The media can influence people directly – human values, judgement and conduct can be altered directly by media modelling. Empirical evidence best supports direct influence rather than the alternative models of media effects: two-step flow, agenda-setting, no effects, or the media reflecting existing attitudes and behaviour.
Media representations of aggressive or violent behaviour can lead to imitation.
The media may influence directly or by social networks, so people can be influenced by media
messages without being exposed to them.
Different media have different effects. The ‘new’ media offer opportunities for self-directedness.
Fandom: Jenkins
Fans act as ‘textual poachers’ – taking elements from media texts to create their own culture.
The development of the ‘new’ media has accelerated ‘participatory culture’, in which audiences are
active and creative participants rather than passive consumers. They create online communities,
produce new creative forms, collaborate to solve problems, and shape the flow of media. This generates ‘collective intelligence’.
From this perspective, convergence is a cultural process rather than a technological one.
Jenkins prefers the term ‘spreadable media’ to terms such as ‘viral’, as the former emphasises the
active, participatory element of the ‘new’ media.
End of Audience Theories: Shirky
In the ‘old’ media, centralised producers addressed atomised consumers; in the ‘new’ media, every
consumer is now a producer. Traditional media producers would ‘filter then publish’; as many ‘new’ media producers are not employees, they ‘publish then filter’.
These amateur producers have different motivations to those of professionals – they value autonomy,
competence, membership and generosity. User-generated content creates emotional connection
between people who care about something. This can generate a cognitive surplus – for example,
Wikipedia can aggregate people’s free time and talent to produce value that no traditional medium could match.
‘The Audience’ as a mass of people with predictable behaviour is gone. Now, behaviour is variable
across different sites, with some of the audience creating content, some synthesising content and some consuming content. The ‘old’ media created a mass audience. The ‘new’ media provide a platform for people to provide value for each other.
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