Revision Theory

Shirky's end of audience theory

~No longer such thing as a passive audience
~active audiences and interaction
~technology has changed our expectations and behaviour (expect interaction with products)
~Audiences like to 'speak back' to producers
~More equality of power

• Old models of producer-audience have broken down. 
• New audience- groupings have grown up: 
• collaborative projects, 
• Crowd funding, 
• crowdsourcing,
• publicity campaigns
• run by volunteers. 
• ‘End of Audience’ Model 
• "Every consumer is also a producer, and everyone can talk back.”
• Media had been a hierarchical industry—in that one filtered first, and then published. 
• "All of that now breaks down….....
• People are producing who are not employees or media professionals. So we now publish first, and then filter. ” It’s all about connections, participatory networks

Jenkin's Fandom Theory

 ~textual poaching

~fan fiction

Gerbner's Cultivation theory

The Cultivation Theory, also known as the Cultivation Analysis or the Cultivation Hypothesis, is a social theory that studies long-term effects of media on viewers’ ideas and perceptions, especially through the television medium

Its main causal argument is that “Mass communication, especially the TV, cultivates concepts of social reality of its viewers,” giving the theory its name. 

Gerbner observed on the basis of the “people religiously watching TV” that we know some things not because we have experienced them but because we see them on media. Therefore, according to this theory, there is a direct relationship between TV time, the frequency that a person watches TV, and reality perception, how realistic a person thinks something is. The more frequently viewers watch TV, the more they are likely to believe what they see on TV. Furthermore, in his 1982 Violence Index, the results showed that violence is at least ten times (10x) more on TV than in real life. In other words, violence and other “realities” shown on TV are exaggerated. So if this was what the people were seeing on TV, these people were likely to have believed a distorted perception of reality.

The Cultivation Theory is considered a stalagmite theory. A stalagmite is a mass of accumulated deposits that grows on cave ceilings, and so, it is a metaphor for the long-term effects of media. 

•How does Gerbner’s Theory and Shirkey’s Theory, impact the way consumers respond to news content  within modern day media?

•Use examples from the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph to back up your answers.

•Use previous case studies and your own examples in support of your arguments.

Many consumers reject the news that they don't agree with and criticise newspapers instead of being passive, supporting Shirkey: 

Making fun and jokes on social media about the telegraph - 

Able to interact with others about the story. Comments on Daily Mail website. Relates to Shirkey -

Opinions from verified accounts (often celebrities or well known figures) get more publicity. Spreading opinions on news on social media can work to cultivate audiences

Criticisms of the telegraph. 

Gerbner's cultivation theory, examples of pessimistic outlooks and other effects.

Baudrillard 20.5.19

postmodernism

reality vs artificial

used to see reality in the media (real people, real locations).
now in a world of artificial realities.
heightened reality (intense)
artificial copies = simulacra. a copy of reality that is so artificial its not really linked to reality at all. we are surrounded by simulacra of media products
hyperreality = glossy, copy of reality. simulacra.
audiences often prefer simulacra to real life



examples of heightened reality, simulacra and hyperreality

Gauntlett

find examples.
bbc documentary - prince william depression and talking to other vulnerable men. provides a varied representation


Butler


gender is a social construct based on what we do
woman (makeup, high heels, dresses)
behaviours - performing these tasks everyday constructs what it means to be female
these are like 'rituals'
e.g. zoella