Audience Theory

Hypodermic needle model

1) The article suggests that playing video games - even for a short amount of time everyday - your more likely to show aggressive behaviour. This links to the hypodermic needle model as it shows how what you see in the media can influence the decisions you make in real life. In this particular study it shows how seeing violence in video games can result in people having a more hostile, negative outlook on the real world.

2) The cover describes how a 15 year old is a 'video game addict who rarely leaves his bedroom' and how this relates to his hacking skills. Describing the boy in this way makes the audience believe that if you let your child play violent video games, their behaviour will be influenced and they will become more unsociable.

Some people may criticise this cover as it assumes that media is the only factor is the only cause for his behaviour when other factors could have also contributed to this outcome.

Two-step flow model

1) The two-step flow model was developed in the 1940s because the hypodermic needle theory was considered too simplistic, assuming the audience consumed media without thinking.The two-step flow model instead suggests the audience are influenced by ‘opinion leaders’ in the media who mediate how the audience react to media texts. The theory suggests the media is not all-powerful and that social factors are important.

I think that the two-step flow model is still relevant today as there is an increasing use of social media platforms such as instagram and youtube, where there are many popular figures who are looked up to and considered as 'role models' or inspirational to some audiences. This makes the views and opinions that they share more likely to be believed by the people watching their videos, or seeing their instagram posts, influencing the way we see things.

2) This youtube blogger fits into the two-step flow model as an opinion leader. This is due to the fact that he has a lot of followers as he has more than 2 million subscribers. Having a large following makes it easier to spread his views to other people, and influence or change some audiences mindsets on topics he explores on his channel.

3) It fits into the two-step flow model as it presents the idea that there are many opinion leaders from different social media platforms. The fact that these popular icons have such a large fan base and following means that what they share is seem by an extremely large audience. It is because of this that i believe they genuinely do have an influence on people, however only to an extent. This is because people tend to follow trends and look up to people who show them or may have similar interests to themselves and try and copy certain things they do, for example if somebody looked up to a particular celebrity they might try and dress or act similarly. However on the other hand i think that audiences can also reject what they are being shown as people in todays society have become more aware of the ways the media tries to persuade us and change peoples opinions.

4) Jamal Edwards links to the two-step flow model as he is an opinion leader. This is because he has millions of followers. This suggests that many people share similar views as him, and will be encouraged to maintain these views as he shares his own opinions. It also allows him to manipulate the way others who might not share the same view think as they may change their views due to the fact that he is a very popular figure.

Dependency Theory

I agree that audiences have become dependent on the media as it is increasingly becoming more popular and is used for almost everything, such as information, entertainment and diversion. The fact that the media has something to cater for different needs, wants and desires and is so easily accessible makes us more heavily reliant on it, even for minor things in our everyday life such as checking the weather to determine what we wear.