Effects of Media on Active & Passive Audience

The viewers or listeners of an event are called audience but when media is concerned the word event translates to media hence, audience are the viewers or listeners of media. Mass media divides its viewers into two parts namely: active and passive. The viewers that do not question the content of media and readily accept it as the truth are considered passive audience. Active audience on the other hand have a different perception as they question the content that the media presents and believe according to their observation. The different interpretation of the audience is the factor that separates them.

The hypodermic needle theory sees viewers as passive audience. It states that through media any message can be injected in to people in order to create a certain response. This theory was stated in the early times of media where mass media such as print and radio were at their topmost level and television being the newly released source of information. This theory accurately described the effects of media at that time hence declaring the mass as passive. Another theory shares a similar concept which is known as Agenda Setting theory which states that media has large amount of influence in the thinking and interaction of people and can set any agenda it desires. But as time passed these theories could not keep up with the changes. Henceforth the idea of active audience came into life.   

Many theorists even in the past supported the idea that audiences are active rather than passive and that media is not as influential as they once believed. This idea is mostly true when new media is concerned but mass media also shares a comparable notion. The two-step flow theory stress that media by itself does not have a strong influence on masses. The theorist believed that people are more likely to be influenced by opinion leaders rather than media even if the opinion leader presents media itself. The opinion leaders maybe members of family, friends or role models etc. Uses and gratifications theory speaks against the hypodermic needle theory and does not label audiences as passive people who absorb the content that they are delivered. It gives the idea that people use media to get gratification and fulfil their desires. Which marks them active as they actively choose the content which they accept.

Most people neglect the audiences of mass media when talking about new media. They believe that with new media there is a new audience. New media does not believe that audience can be passive and assumes that all of its users are active. But in some case traditional media theories are applicable to new media such as in entertainment where audience is assumed to be passive. So generally, it can be said that the idea of new audience is taken from active audience from mass media. One of the main difference in new media is that it gives its audience a platform to interact and communicate while the only interaction mass media allows its audience is in choosing the channel. New media supports the Media Equation theory which states that masses treat media like people and interact with them as if they are actual people.

Therefore, audiences can be divided into three or two categories active, passive and new or just passive and active and new audience being a part of active audience. Mass media theories maybe replaced by new media theories completely but the relationship between these two media will still exist and in some cases they might even be valid.  

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Williams, K. (2003). Understanding media theory. 1st ed. London: Arnold.            

The Era of Mass Society Theory

“Mass communication is concerned with transmitting information, thoughts and opinions, entertainments etc. at a time to a large number of heterogeneous audiences.” (Metha)

Hence mass communication is a process of exhibiting information to large audiences through mass media such as radio, television, newspaper, movies etc. The transformation of media theories throughout the nineteenth century has been laid out in four distinct eras which was facilitated in the understanding of mass communication throughout the last two centuries. (The Business Communication, 2015)

The Four Eras of Mass Communication Theory are:

•  The Era of Mass Society Theory
•  The Era of the Scientific Perspectives
•  The Era of Limited Effect Theory
• The Era of Cultural Theory

In the nineteen century, when the printing press was holding a large amount of power due to the print media’s creation spread wide among the population. The industrial revolution transformed many rural areas to urban areas and even forced a lot of people from rural areas to take part in the industrial revolution. Many theorists blamed the media for disturbing the peace of rural areas. Even though the theory of mass society has properly criticized the errors of that particular era, a new version of this theory was never stated. (Baran and Davis, 2011)

The idea of mass society theory is that the taste and value of bourgeois (rich people) is considerably more significant than proletariat (average people). The media injected the idea of working class to readers and viewers which created a disturbance in the social order. It made people believe that they belong to the lower class and that the capitalists are in control. This theory was derived from the critical theory which is described by Horkheimer and Adorno as “the bourgeois idealism” they argued that the development of capitalism will make the life of the bourgeois better and worsen the life of proletariat but they also stated that the growth of industry will bring new forms of knowledge to life. These theorists belonged to a school of social theory and philosophy called Frankfurt School. (Cowen, 2003)

In Marxism, a theory defined by Karl Marx society is divided into two parts the bourgeois and the proletariat. The bourgeois are capitalist wealthy people who owns corporates they are less in number but have the power to control mass media on the other hand proletariat are more in number but are considered working class and have a low social value in society. (AllAboutPhilosophy.org, 2016)

People among the bourgeois who owned factories and industries came to be known as capitalists. Capitalism is a system in which a country’s economic system is controlled by capitalists. Marx stated that under capitalism the rich will keep on getting richer and the poor will get more and more poorer. He suggested communism as the solution of the problem where corporates are publicly owned and workers are paid according to their ability.

Mass society theory recognized that the media is being controlled by the bourgeois and they have been corrupting the minds of average people and illustrating them to believe that they are lesser beings whose worth is merely nothing. Every step is a huge leap towards success and identifying this exploitation was the beginning of a new era as this open secret was spoken of and discussed among the proletariat, the average, the population.

References:

AllAboutPhilosophy.org. (2016). What is Marxism. [online] Available at: http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/what-is-marxism-faq.htm [Accessed 23 Jan. 2017].

Baran, S. and Davis, D. (2011). Mass communication theory. 6th ed. Wadsworth Publishing.

Cowen, H. (2003). The Significance of the Frankfurt School and Critical Theory. [online] BRLSI. Available at: http://brlsi.org/events-proceedings/proceedings/18097 [Accessed 23 Jan. 2017].

The Business Communication. (2015). What is Mass Communication? [online] Available at: https://thebusinesscommunication.com/what-is-mass-communication/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2017].