Researching Media Audiences
Lecture 3: Publics and Media Effects Research
Sullivan (2013) see audiences in 4 ways:
1. Objects
2. Institutional constructions
3. Active users of media
4. Producers/subcultures
Background to Effects Research
• If we see an audience as an object, then that object
has no real power (Sullivan, 2013)
• Mass audiences are faceless anonymous collections
of millions of people (end 19C)
• Use of statistics to understand populations used by
government and business (early 20C)
• New forms of mass media (radio, film) supports
notions of mass audiences
• All media research looks for effects!
Hypodermic needle theory
• Brett Lamb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt5MjBlvGcY
• Beauty and advertising
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAW4LIFYFng
• The pron effect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ptP3qFIxA
• 12 yr old Vajazzling
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/girls-havingbikini-waxes-vajazzling-1787328
4 Epochs of Effects Research
(McQuail, 1984)
1. 1900-30 Media is all-powerful (hypodermic
needle)
2. 1930-59 Opposition to all-powerful media model
(the ‘no-effect’ model, limited effects)
3. 1960-79 Powerful media revisited (long-term
effects, media ownership, agenda
setting)
4. 1980’s+ Negotiated Media Meaning model
5. 2005+ Social media models change everything
Alternate system: four models of
effect (Perse, 2001)
• Direct effects – short tem, testable
• Conditional effects – based upon beliefs of the
audience
• Cumulative effects – saturation & repetition
leads to build up
• Cognitive-transactional effects – occurs due to
individual responses to the priming effect of
media
The problem with media violence
• Road Runner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odNLJNXnAb0
• If we see a lot of violence on TV then some of us will copy that
violence in real life?
• Children are usually the focus of these studies- early studies
counted the acts of violence in kids’ shows
• Problem here is cause and effect – no evidence that cartoons
lead to long term kiddie criminals
• Contradicted by the evidence:
TV violence is increasing
Crime statistics are decreasing
Reality of violence in society
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Most domestic violence are men -> women
Stranger rape much less common than acquaintances
Murder is not the most common crime
Black people more likely to be victims
Older people more likely to be victims
Domestic violence accounted for 25% of all violent crime, and
33% of all murders in USA
• These stats - not the portrayal of violence on TV and movies
• http://youtu.be/DHRwo48twyE Book of Eli
Famous Media Case Studies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre
• Columbine shooting was blamed on violent
video games.
Media recants its theories and myths
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-13-columbine-myths_N.htm
• James Bulger murder blamed on violent video
material, eg Childs Play.
http://www.youtube.com/v=Vx1uUnr2aCM (response to causal links to video)
The evidence re media violence:
• Clear lack of evidence but supporters of the
‘negative effect’ thesis often make very firm
statements about causality
• The only evidence is correlational links
– X occurs at the same time as Y, therefore X
caused Y, or Y caused X
• However… there is a lot of correlation:
•
http://www.thepci.org/articles/The%20Role%20of%20Media%20Violence%20in%20Violent%20Behavior.pdf
Media accuracy and bias
• Journalists often reproduce bias surrounding various
issues, forgetting to check sources
• Attitudes to beauty, obesity, alcohol, drugs,
education, politics, boat people… are created and
maintained by media
• Agenda-setting role leads to mass audience paranoia
in some cases – HRT reports
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/181726.php
• Media is subject to PR messages from big business
http://www.universaldrugstore.com/news/tamiflu/is-tamiflu-better-than-relenza/
Affect and Effect
• Nightingale & Ross argue that many people easily say
that media violence is harmful
• Investigations of viewer responses
• Studies often focus on content, not on audience
perceptions
• Strong statements about causality are therefore
speculative
• All that can be said is that the media can cause
effects in certain contexts
What about advertising?
• If the media did not cause consumers to go
out and buy stuff, why is billions of dollars
spent on advertising?
• Is behaving in a violent manner so different to
buying clothes or food?
• Why do governments spend millions on health
campaigns through the media?
Successful PR advertising
Edward Bernays 1929 “torches of freedom”
from 12% of market to 18% (1935), 33% (1965)
No.1
Successful online media campaign
Barack Obama in 2007 was a one-term senator
who nobody knew
He used social media of YouTube (20mill hits)
and Facebook (2.5mill fans)
Used photos, social media
friendly website, calls-toaction
Media effects on sexuality
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1070813/
• http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive//ldn/2005/jul/05
070604
• Issue largely ignored by researchers:
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/116/Suppleme
nt_1/303.full
How do we resist media effects?
• Realise that the media are not there to help us
• Understand that status, profit, and power are the bases of all
democratic societies
• What we see is not always reality, but a reflection of what
already exists in other media copy
• Try to not mimic American culture in all its forms
• Try to educate ourselves by seeing through the hype, the
sensationalism, the falsehoods posing as facts
• Try to adopt an individual view on difficult issues, not just
parrot the media position