Audience theory 2: blog tasks

 Audience theory 2: blog tasks

Theory questions and your opinion

1) Social learning theory has been criticised for simplifying the causes of violence in society. Do you think the media is responsible for anti-social behaviour and violence?  The media is partially to blame as it is introducing way to communicate through apps and other methods instead on face to face interaction. Forcing people to be more isolated and form violent ideas by possibly intaking negative and aggressive films or games.   

2) How is social learning theory relevant in the digital age? Are young people now learning behaviour from social media and the internet? Give examples. The media is partially to blame for violent and aggressive behaviour displayed by young children. This can be seen by the experiment of social learning theory and can be confirmed that children observe and imitate behaviour very quickly and easily. By introducing games that involve violence children are prone to absorb it and might imitate, therefore promoting the harsh behaviour. By playing games like GTA they are intaking brutal shooting and might do it themselves.

3) Research three examples of moral panic from the last 50 years. To what extent was the media responsible for these moral panics? Was the concern in society justified? How have things changed as a result of these moral panics? 

The Devil’s Music

Perhaps best embodied in the Footloose films, the concept that new iterations of music and dance could corrupt the youth has been repeated through the generations. An early iteration was Blues music in the 1920s, followed by Jazz in the 1950s. The sad history of this moral panic is that it’s got some dark racial undertones. Blues and Jazz both had strong African American roots in the United States, and when white middle-class youths started to embrace it, there was plenty of outrage from the white establishment. Black culture might corrupt the whites! 

Disappearing Childhood

Postman argued that children are becoming adults too fast. Primarily, he put blame on visual media such as television which give children access to adult knowledge before they could even read. Since, we’ve had sporadic moral panics about children’s exposure to inappropriate content on the internet and new media. Fears about media corrupting childhood have always occurred.

Tide Pods

Between 2013 and 2018, an internet challenge of teenagers eating tide pods (a laundry detergent) led to widespread media and political scrutiny. It led to the New York legislature introducing a bill to ban the detergents (it never passed) and Facebook and YouTube removing as many videos as they could. This rose to the levels of moral panic, particularly because more children die from choking on other household goods including batteries. Since, we’ve had sporadic moral panics about children’s exposure to inappropriate content on internet. Fears about media corrupting childhood have always occurred.

4) Read this introduction to an academic paper on technopanics. What examples are given of technopanics that create fear in society? If the link is blocked in school, you can access the text here. Such anxiety appeals are regularly seen in the context of internet policy and frequently take the form of a full-fledged moral or technological panic. These panics are strong reactions from the general public, the political establishment, and academia to the emerging media and technology, especially among the young

5) Do you think the internet should be regulated? Should the government try and control what we can access online? In my opinion, the government need to try to regulate the appropriate age for using the internet. This could include having an age restriction password because younger children who access any unsecure internet may not be able to know if it's good for them and it may have a negative impact on them. This can include talking to strangers online because it is very simple for young children to be scammed online by even clicking on a link that is claimed to be used for something else.

6) Apply Gerbner's cultivation theory to new and digital media. Is the internet creating a fearful population? Are we becoming desensitised to online threats, trolling and abuse? Is heavy internet use something we should be worried about in society? Write a paragraph discussing these ideas. I agree with Gerbner's theory of cultivation; in today's generation, technology has replaced newspapers, magazines and even television. People frequently rely on their phones and the internet, especially for information they find on social media and use apps to find out about the weather instead of watching the news to find out. We depend on our phones so much that one day we might not be able to function without them as most communication is made through the small device.

The effects debate: Media Factsheet

Complete the following tasks using Media Factsheet 030 - The Effects Debate available on the Media Shared drive. You'll find it in our Media Factsheet archive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. You can also access it via your school Google login here.

Read Media Factsheet 030 - Media and Audiences -The Effects Debate and answer the following questions:

1) Complete the questions in the first activity box (beginning with 'Do you play violent games? Are you violent in real life?') No, I don't play games at all ! I was younger, the only games I played frequently on the computer like baking games. I wouldn't describe myself as violent in real life because I have never had a fight in school or involved myself in any violent behaviour.

2) What are the four categories for different effects theories? 

• The direct effect theories
• Diffusion theories
• Indirect effect theories
• The pluralist approaches

4) What was the 1999 Columbine massacre? You may need to research this online in addition to the information on the factsheet. On 20th in 1999 at Columbine High School fifth period was under way for most students, while others lined up at the cafeteria as the lunch hour neared. Art teacher Patricia Nielson stood in a hallway near sixteen-year-old Brian Anderson when they heard several loud pops.  

5) What are the reasons listed on the factsheet to possibly explain the Columbine High School massacre?

• access to violent videos and images
• access to guns and weapons and it being normalised

6) How does the factsheet describe Gerbner's Cultivation theory? Cultivation theory suggests that tv viewing can have long term gradual significant effects on the audiences attitude and beliefs rather than behaviour. The often the media is repeated the more  it is normalised amongst the audience.

7) What does the factsheet suggest about action films and the values and ideologies that are reinforced with regards to violence? Complex relationship between: The ease of access to firearms and the social acceptance of gun ownership. The alienation felt by teenagers who felt as though they did not fit in. The hopelessness caused by living in an area where unemployment was high and economically disadvantaged. The general desensitisation caused by access to a range of violent images.

8) What criticisms of direct effect theories are suggested in the factsheet? Critics see both these direct theories as having an elitist element suggesting a judgement is being made about the mass audience as they are assumed to be easily led and not perceptive or self- aware. 

10) What examples are provided for Hall's theory of preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings? The media cannot always relay on whether the audience would understand the media the same way as how the producers wanted them to.