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Audiences (the theoretical framework)

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

Do the media directly affect their audiences, and what do Bandura's social learning theory and Gerbner's cultivation theory each claim?

Audiences: media effects. Bandura's social learning theory (observation, imitation and vicarious reinforcement) and Gerbner's cultivation theory (long-term exposure, mean world syndrome), and the debate over passive versus active audiences.
An OCR A-Level Media Studies guide to media effects theory. Covers Bandura's social learning theory (observation, imitation, vicarious reinforcement) and Gerbner's cultivation theory (long-term exposure, mean world syndrome), and the passive versus active audience debate, with the application skills the audiences essays reward.
16 min answer →

How has the digital age changed the audience, and what do Jenkins and Shirky argue about fandom, participation and the end of the passive audience?

Audiences: fandom and participatory culture (Henry Jenkins) and the end of audience (Clay Shirky). Textual poaching, convergence culture, prosumers, user-generated content and the collapse of the producer-audience divide.
An OCR A-Level Media Studies guide to fandom and participatory culture (Henry Jenkins) and the end of audience (Clay Shirky). Covers textual poaching, convergence culture, prosumers, user-generated content and the collapse of the producer-audience divide, with the application skills the audiences essays reward.
16 min answer →

How do audiences make sense of media texts, and what does Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model say about preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings?

Audiences: reception theory (Stuart Hall). The encoding/decoding model, the preferred (dominant), negotiated and oppositional reading positions, and the idea that meaning is completed by the audience, not fixed in the text.
An OCR A-Level Media Studies guide to reception theory and Stuart Hall's encoding/decoding model. Covers encoding and decoding, the preferred, negotiated and oppositional reading positions, and the idea that meaning is completed by the audience, with the application skills the audiences essays reward.
15 min answer →

How do media producers identify, target and reach audiences, and how do audiences use media to meet their own needs?

Audiences: targeting, categorising and reaching audiences. Demographics and psychographics, mass and niche audiences, mode of address and positioning, and uses and gratifications as a model of the active audience.
An OCR A-Level Media Studies guide to targeting and categorising audiences. Covers demographics and psychographics, mass and niche audiences, mode of address and positioning, and uses and gratifications, with the application skills the audiences questions reward.
16 min answer →