This document discusses several theories related to media effects: - Uses and Gratifications Theory posits that people actively seek out media to fulfill certain needs rather than passively receiving media messages. - Cultivation Theory argues that heavy television viewing can influence viewers' beliefs about the world by cultivating exaggerated perceptions of issues like violence. - Agenda-Setting Theory holds that media can influence the public agenda by drawing attention to certain issues and making them more salient. - Gatekeeping refers to how editors and producers control the flow of news by selecting stories based on perceived audience interest and importance.

1. MEDIA EFFECTS

2. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS
ELIHU KATZ

3. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS
CORE FOUNDATIONS
• Key Definition:
• “…People deliberately use media for particular
purposes.”
• Key Assumptions
• People use media for their own purpose
• People seek to gratify needs through media
• Media compete for personal time/attention
• Media affect people differently
• People can accurately record their media use
motivations

4. USING MEDIA FOR PERSONAL PURPOSE
Before Uses and Gratifications Theory
• Uniform-effects model- media affects the
audience in the same way
• The audience were passive targets waiting to be
hit by a “magic bullet” (the media message)
• The audience would be automatically accepting of
the message

5. USING MEDIA FOR PERSONAL PURPOSE
After Uses and Gratifications Theory
• People are active consumers of media
• The increase of choice in media options has
increased active media consumption
• Before 1980, there were four television choices
• ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS
• Today, there are hundreds of television choices

6. GRATIFYING NEEDS THROUGH MEDIA
People have psychological or emotional
“cravings” that they seek to gratify through
media use
• Passing Time
• Companionship
• Escape
• Enjoyment
• Social Interaction
• Relaxation
• Information
• Excitement

7. GRATIFYING NEEDS THROUGH MEDIA
Straight-Line Effect of Media- Media
content will elicit a specific effect on behavior,
regardless of those who watch it
• Uses and Grats stats that different effects may
occur when multiple people watch the same
program
• Depends on the needs each audience member
was trying to satisfy
• Presidential Debates

8. MEDIA COMPETITION FOR ATTENTION
What needs are being gratified by media
that justify the time commitment?
• Why do we choose media over other forms of
communication?
• Why do we choose specific types of media?
• Television
• Specific Programs
• Video Games
• Radio

9. MEDIA AFFECT PEOPLE DIFFERENTLY
People are unique in their media
motivations and preferences
• What is appealing to one person may be a
turnoff to another

10. PEOPLE CAN REPORT THEIR
MEDIA USE MOTIVATIONS
People can “self” report their media
usage and what needs are being
gratified by the use
• This assumption is still debated among
scholars
• Can people accurately articulate why they are
choosing specific media?

11. PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
A sense of friendship or attachment with
a television character (either real or
fictional)

12. CULTIVATION THEORY
GEORGE GERBNER

13. CULTIVATION THEORY
CORE FOUNDATIONS
• Key Definition:
• “Television is an institutional storyteller.”
• Key Assumptions
• Television is a dominant force in shaping society
• Violence in a major staple of television
programming
• Heavy television viewers develop an
exaggerated belief in a mean, scary and violent
world

14. THREE PRONGS OF
CULTIVATION THEORY ANALYSIS
First Prong
• Institutional Process Analysis
• Examines the “behind the scenes” policies and
practices that guide programming choices in
media
• Why are certain societal behaviors more
commonly portrayed by media organizations?
• TV News “If it bleeds, it leads.”
• How is programming content regulated?

15. THREE PRONGS OF
CULTIVATION THEORY ANALYSIS
Second Prong
• Message System Analysis
• Careful, systematic study of TV programming
content
• Originally analyzed dramatic violence content
(Index of Violence)
• By high school graduation, a child has viewed
more than 13,000 violent deaths

16. THREE PRONGS OF
CULTIVATION THEORY ANALYSIS
Second Prong
• Message System Analysis
• People of the margins of society is
underrepresented, and vulnerability to violence
is overplayed
• Minority or “low class” groups are more often the
victims of dramatic violence

17. THREE PRONGS OF
CULTIVATION THEORY ANALYSIS
Second Prong
• Message System Analysis
• Adaption of cultivation analysis to other societal
issues
• Gender Roles
• Racial Inequality

18. THREE PRONGS OF
CULTIVATION THEORY ANALYSIS
Third Prong
• Cultivation Analysis
• Those who spend more time watching TV
believe it is more likely to represent the “real
world”
• Accessibility Principle- People make judgments
about the world from small bits of info that come
to mind quickly

19. MAJOR FINDINGS OF
CULTIVATION ANALYSIS
1. Positive Correlation between TV viewing
and fear of criminal victimization
2. Heavy TV viewers perceive 5% of society is
involved in law enforcement
• Actually closer to 1%
3. Heavy TV viewers are more suspicious of
other people’s motives
• Mean World Syndrome

20. AGENDA-SETTING THEORY
MAXWELL MCCOMBS & DONALD SHAW

21. AGENDA-SETTING THEORY
CORE FOUNDATIONS
• Key Definition:
• “Mass media have the ability to transfer the
salience of items on their news agenda to the
public agenda.”
• Key Assumptions
• The media do not tell us what to think, but what to
think about (pre-1990)
• Media can tell us what to think and how we should
behave (post-1990)
• “Gatekeepers” determine what news is important

22. AGENDAS:
HOW ARE NEWS STORIES SELECTED
Media Agenda
• Determined by length and prominence of media
story topics
• 5 Major News Issues by Importance
• Foreign Policy
• Law & Order
• Fiscal Policy
• Public Welfare
• Civil Rights
• Index of Curiosity- Media is most likely to affect
audience opinion if there is a high need for
orientation and uncertainty about the issue

23. AGENDAS:
HOW ARE NEWS STORIES SELECTED
Public Agenda
• The most important issues of the news
audience
• McCombs & Shaw found a nearly identical
match with the most important topics of the
Media Agenda

24. AGENDAS:
HOW ARE NEWS STORIES SELECTED
• Which agenda determines the selection of
media?
• McCombs & Shaw say the media
• Critics say both
• As more news options are available, the
audience has more influence
• Community Journalism
• Viewer Comments/Tips

25. FRAMING
Framing- “The central organizing idea for
news content that supplies a context and
what the issue is”
• Determined by:
• Selection
• Emphasis
• Exclusion
• Elaboration

26. FRAMING
Framing presents a issue in a way that can
shape or reinforce public opinion
• Fox News vs. CNN vs. MSNBC
• How is the issue presented?
• “War on Terror”
• HIV/AIDS
• Crime and Ethnicity
• “Travel Ban” vs. “Extreme Vetting”

27. AGENDA-SETTING EVOLVES:
HOW TO THINK & BEHAVE
Increased prominence and length of
specific topics can have an effect on
audience behavior
• Increased coverage of flu outbreaks increases
requests for flu shots
• Continued focus on two-party system in U.S.
politics

28. GATEKEEPING
• There is limited space available in each
news publication
• Editors and Producers “control the flow” of
news that reaches the audience
• Selects news based on importance or interest of
audience
• Interest Aggregations can increase visibility
and interest of topics with Gatekeepers
• Public Relations
• Special Interest Groups