J201Intro to mass communicationMass society:audience agency“mass communication”processespurposes“mass media”producerstechnologiesproducts“mass society”effectsaudiencesculturesResearching agency of media audiences with messages•audience segmentation theories•audience size & overlap theories•audience role theories•audience diffusion theories•uses and gratifications theories•cultural construction theoriesSix types of “audience” theoriesGerbner 1982an audience segmentation exampleaudience segmentation theories•demographics (who you are)•geographics (where you are)•psychographics (what you believe)(note similarity to “limited effects”)an audience size & overlap exampleaudience size & overlap theories•ways of measuring the audience (for each medium)•heavy consumers of one medium tend to be heavy consumers of other mediaaudience role theories•audience as citizen (decision-maker)•audience as consumer (of both media and products)•audience as product (eyeballs sold to advertisers)•audience as labor (doing work for advertisers)•research method: Neilsen ratingsaudience diffusion theories•people mediate the messages•interpersonal communication + mass communication•gatekeepers and opinion leaders (two-step flow)•mediators tend to be more affluent and more educated•perhaps more applicable to print than to televisionLinné and von Feilitzen 1972a uses and gratifications exampleuses and gratifications theories•audience members have needs, interests, and goals•audience members choose media to satisfy those needs, interests, and goals•media must compete with other ways people have to satisfy their needs, interests, and goals•method: ask people why they use the media(information, identity, integration, entertainment)•do people have “freedom of choice”?•what about aggregate-level effects and meanings?•supports the status quo?cultural construction theories•audiences are not passive viewers making choices, but active creators of meaning•audiences create, sustain, and alter shared worldviews using the media•media are not only wrapped up in pleasure and gratification, but power and conflict•do audiences only choose media which supports their
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