Lecture 6 - Active Media Audiences
Audiences are active, not passive, in their relationship to media. Different audiences can construct
different meanings from the same media text.
1. Active audiences: an introduction
Boundaries between producers and consumers are changing, as well as the forms of gatekeeping.
Third-person effects: the perception that others will be more affected by negative media content
than oneself.
2. Uses and gratifications theory
Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an approach to understanding why and how people actively
seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. ... Rather, the audience has power over their media
consumption and assumes an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives.
3. Critical cultural studies: active audience theory
Cultural studies --> roots in Great Britain in 1960s and 1970s. Analysis of popular culture.
Relationship between culture and wider systems of power. Media as a discursive arena.
Ways of being active:
1. Interpretation
2. The social context of interpretation
3. Collective action
4. Audiences as media producers
Audiences are active, not passive, in their relationship to media. Different audiences can construct
different meanings from the same media text.
1. Active audiences: an introduction
Boundaries between producers and consumers are changing, as well as the forms of gatekeeping.
Third-person effects: the perception that others will be more affected by negative media content
than oneself.
2. Uses and gratifications theory
Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an approach to understanding why and how people actively
seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. ... Rather, the audience has power over their media
consumption and assumes an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives.
3. Critical cultural studies: active audience theory
Cultural studies --> roots in Great Britain in 1960s and 1970s. Analysis of popular culture.
Relationship between culture and wider systems of power. Media as a discursive arena.
Ways of being active:
1. Interpretation
2. The social context of interpretation
3. Collective action
4. Audiences as media producers
