This document summarizes several theories of audience from the 20th century: - The Frankfurt School in the 1920s-30s viewed audiences as passive receivers of media messages. - The Two Step Flow theory from the 1940s argued that opinion leaders influence how audiences interpret media messages. - Uses and Gratifications from the 1960s saw audiences as active individuals who choose media to fulfill specific needs like diversion, relationships, identity, and information. - David Morley's work in the 1980s identified different types of readings that audiences can take, from fully sharing the media's intended meanings to negotiating or opposing them based on their own views.

1. Audience Theory
Target Audience
 All media products have a target audience
 Particularly in propaganda they sometimes try to construct an
audience
 Products can have a mass audience or a niche audience
Frankfurt School – a group of media t heorist s – 1920s – 30s – effect s of mass
media
 ‘Effects’ model – society to be concerned about the effects of mass
media
 Hypodermic syringe – the contents of the media were injected into the
thoughts of the audience who accepted everything without question
The Two St ep Flow – Lazarsfelf and Kat z – 1940s – 50s
1. Opinion Leaders get info from a media source
2. Opinion leaders then pass on the information along with their
interpretation to others
 Strength: audiences are active and seen as part of a society
 Weakness: more than two steps in the flow of communication

Uses and Grat ificat ions – 1960s
 Audiences made choices about what they did when consuming texts
 Audiences were made up of individuals who actively consuming texts
1. Diversion – escape from everyday problems and routine
2. Personal relationship – using the media fdor emotional and other
interaction – soaps = family life
3. Personal identity – finding yourself reflected in texts and picking
up behaviour and values from texts
4. Surveillance – information which could be useful for living e.g.
weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains
Since then the list of uses and g has been extended particularly as new
media forms have come along eg video games and the internet.

2. David Morely – 1980s
 Dominance reading – audience shares the programme’s meanings,
values, attitudes and beliefs and fully accepts the programmes
preferred reading
 Negot iat ed reading – the reader partly shares the codes and broadly
accepts the preferred reading but modifies it in a way which reflects
their position and interests
 Opposit ional reading – reader does not share codes and rejects the
preferred reading