Media Unit 4
Outcome 2: Agency and control in and of the media
The official part:
'The relationship between the media and audiences has never been more complex. The contemporary media landscape poses issues and challenges for the way that academics and commentators have traditionally theorised the nature of communication. The media has always been considered to have the capacity to influence, but now the balance of power is shifting and arguments around who influences who have become highly contested. The media and its audiences are now both thought to exercise agency; the capacity to act and exert power. Today the media not only produces and distributes content to audiences, it also generates and sustains social networks, which have, in turn, enabled new modes of production, distribution, consumption and reception based on the sharing of commercial and user-generated content. This has contributed to business models based on data aggregation and the harvesting and sale of personal information collected from what many individuals consider social and personalised media engagement. Laws and policies of the Australian Government and self-regulation by media institutions define and maintain standards through regulatory bodies and codes of conduct, but individual interaction with other media users, as in social networks, is not subject to these constraints. As the media increasingly crosses national borders, governments struggle to maintain control over the laws and policies created for their jurisdictions. These issues pose challenges for managing and regulating the use of the media by globalised media institutions, governments and the individual.
' (VCAA, Media Study Design, p26 https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/media/MediaSD_2018.pdf).
Outcome 1:
On completion of this unit the student should be able to discuss issues of agency and control in the relationship between the media and its audience. To achieve this outcome the student will draw on key knowledge and key skills outlined in Area of Study 2.
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Key knowledge:
• the dynamic and changing relationship between the media and its audience
• the influence of both the media and audience
• the way media is used by globalised media institutions, governments and the individual
• the rationale for regulating the relationships between the media and its audience in Australia
• the issues and challenges relating to regulation and control of the media
• ethical and legal issues in the production, distribution, consumption and reception of media products
• media language.
Key skills:
• discuss the dynamic and changing relationship between the media and its audience
• discuss the extent of the influence of the media and media audience
• analyse the regulation of relationships between the media and its audience in Australia
• analyse issues and challenges relating to regulation and control of the media
• evaluate ethical and legal issues in the media
• use media language.
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WHAT IS AGENCY AND CONTROL?
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This area of study is called ‘agency & control’ because it analyses the power and influence the media is claimed to have over audiences, and that audiences are claimed to have over the media. Our experience makes it clear that the media does not have absolute power to influence audiences. We do not do everything the media suggests. On the other hand, audiences can do and exert power over the media but, their extent of their power is not always easy to determine.
This much is known……the media needs audiences and audiences need the media. The question that media theorists have tried to answer over 100 years is how and under what circumstances do they influence each other? The job of the media student is to determine how and to what degree agency and control are successfully applied by audiences and the media.
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-Nelson Media, Flack 2018
Agency:
The ability to act and make choices. audiences and institutions can have agency. They can use the media as a platform however they choose. Maybe to express themselves or communicate a message
Control:
The ability to exert power over somebody's actions or choices. When audiences or media institutions have control they may be able to change someone's opinions or shape how messages are communicated.
The level of power and control the media possesses has always been long debated. Many theories have tried to explain how the media is able to influence, and the level of agency an audience has in their relationship with the media. You can read about these theories here
In the early decades of mass media communication the media was considered to be very powerful, however in recent decades, as mass media communication has become more globalised, audiences have gained ever increasing agency and the media they consume has had to adapt accordingly. (Source: http://www.tpsmediastudies.com/agency-and-control-in-and-of-the-media.html)
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READ:
We will be working our way
through Ch 8 of the textbook
throughout our A&C explorations,
p257-292.
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Audiences and Agency
The media industry is rapidly changing and now more than ever, Audiences have agency over how they consume and receive the media. There used to be tight control over what we saw and heard in the media because the media industry was traditionally controlled by media institutions and governments. The internet has given audiences more choice in the media they consume and for the first time, their own voice in the media.
(Source: http://www.tpsmediastudies.com/agency-and-control-in-and-of-the-media.html)
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The Active & Passive Audience
All media text is produced with the audience in mind. Audience is the people who ‘read’ or consume different media text. Because we all perceive different information in different ways audience as a whole has been divided in two types; Active and Passive.
An active audience is one that actively engages with the media product. They question what they are presented with and do not easily accept it. They build their own interpretation on it according to their past experiences. (Source: http://roveel-mediatheories.blogspot.com/2017/02/effects-of-media-on-active-and-passive.html)
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In this Area of Study you must be able to discuss the active and passive audience. You will need to know the difference between them.
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Media Textbook, p258.
The Passive Audience:
A passive audience is one that does not question the text and accepts the message as it is intended. They do not have their own perceptions on the message as planned.
A passive audience is an audience that merely observes and event rather than actively responding it. The watch, read and listen to the media without any judgment and accept the information they receive. As part of this they may act accordingly.
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The Active Audience:
Active audience argues that media audiences do not just receive information passively but are actively involved, often unconsciously, in making sense of the message within their personal and social contexts.
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Susceptible Audience:
This is a vulnerable audience, an audience that has the potential to be easily influenced, this would include children, the elderly or people who are mentally unstable.
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Communication Theories
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The behavior of these two types of audiences can be better explained according to different theories. For example the hypodermic needle theory suggests that all audience is passive and readily accepts whatever the media ‘injects’ into its brain. This theory is backed up by an experiment carried out by Orson Wells in the 1930s in which a fake news bulletin was broadcasted saying that earth was being invaded by aliens. Out of 12 million people one million believed this to be true.
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What are COMMUNICATION THORIES?
Communication theories are just that…..Theories about how the media communicates to audiences. Theorists are educators who come up with different ideas and theories on how audiences engage with and use the media.
Theories have strengths and weaknesses.
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NO THEORY IS 100% ACCURATE.
All audiences are different, all cultures are different and we all interact and use media differently.
Communication theories are ways of understanding the relationship between the mass media and its audiences. In order for us to think about communication theories we must appreciate that every individual interprets the media differently, therefore no one theory can work independently for all audiences.
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Since the early days of mass communication, media theorists have attempted to describe the process of communication.
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Communication theories encourage us to step away from our everyday experience of the media and think about them from a critical distance.
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As part of this Unit of work – Agency & Control you will need to be draw on the communication theories and demonstrate an understanding of how and why they are explained.
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You will be required to know the following points relating to each of the 5 Communication Theories:
• Name of the Communication Theory
• Year it was developed
• Name of the Theorist (s)
• What the theory suggests
• Whether its audience is – Passive or Active
• Evidence supporting the Communication Theory
• Be able to compare and contrast the theory with another
• Strengths & Weaknesses to the Communication Theory
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Use your "Media goggles" to engage your critical thinking...
Communication theories have limits and because they are theoretical they often prove to be erroneous in practice. In an attempt to capture a snapshot of media communication, they can oversimplify the process and even lead to confusion between the theory and the process it describes.
As Media students, you should keep this in mind as you move through your study of Media Agency & Control. Maintain a critical eye and test all theories against real-life examples, which will point to the strengths and weaknesses of each. Remember, if we really did understand how the media influences audiences, this area of study would not exit.
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(Source: http://www.mediaknite.org/communication-theories-2/)
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Models of Thinking
Understanding how the media works depends on your world view and your world view depends on your history…
Before we can examine the relationship between the media and its audiences we need to understand that arguments and evidence about this relationship arise from three ways of thinking of about the role of media and society.
- Nelson Media 2018 - Flack
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These 3 models seem to be the overarching approach to Media and its Influence over audiences.
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• The Political Economy Model: holds that the media is simply part of an economic system where power and control reside in political and economical institutions. Under this model, the media transmits the messages these institutions determine.
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• The Effects Model: holds that media forms and content have strong effects on individuals and society. This model sees media forms and texts as powerful agents of change and not always for the better.
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• The Cultural Model: holds that it is culture – which includes the political economy and the media – that explains the individual’s relationship with the media. The media serves as the communication space within which cultures and other forces in society can interact.
B
Bullet
A
Agenda Setting Function
P
Post Modern
R
Reinforcement
U
Uses & Gratification
The above acronym BAPRU, refers to the 5 Theories of Media Influence that we will study. They are explained in detail below.
B = media has full power of the audience
U = Media has little to no power
Think about your personal Media "diet".
Are you a cultural anorexic? (fearful of the media, don't believe anything)
or
a Cultural Glutten? (passive audience believe everything you see/read without thinking)
or somewhere in between...?
(paraphrasd from McEwen, J 2021 Week4 lecture)
Helpful stuff:
Agency & Control info from Lesson bucket
