media theories applicable to magazine productions and consumptions.

The effects theory - Hypodermic syringe, inoculation – what the media does to audiences.

Uses and gratifications – what audiences do with media

Reception theory – what audiences do to the media.


Effects theories
Mass media and mass communications make people powerless to resist the messages the media like to put across.
The consumers are almost ‘addicted’ or ‘hypnotised’ but what the media is telling them.
The effect theorie has taken up with protection of young, the link between violence and the media.
Frankfurt school: Marxist german intellectuals reacting against Nazi propaganda and US Advertising. They suggested the power of big corporations controlled the state of how we think.
Media may reinforce attitudes through repetition.
Bobo doll Experiment(1963) – children imitate adult treatment of doll seen on film.
However the problems with violence are not always to blame by the media it could be social or pyschological.


DENIS MCQAIL (1987) THEORY:
Information:
finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world
seeking advice on practical matters or opinion and decision choices
satisfying curiosity and general interest
learning; self-education
gaining a sense of security through knowledge

Personal Identity:
finding reinforcement for personal values
finding models of behaviour
identifying with valued other (in the media)
gaining insight into one's self
Integration and Social Interaction
gaining insight into circumstances of others; social empathy
identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging
finding a basis for conversation and social interaction
having a substitute for real-life companionship
helping to carry out social roles
enabling one to connect with family, friends and society
Entertainment
escaping, or being diverted, from problems
relaxing
getting intrinsic cultural or aesthetic enjoyment
filling time
emotional release
sexual arousal



Reception theory:
Opposite to effects theories
It is seen as a media consumption that is active not passive
It suggests the media texts are polysemic.
How a text is constructed to make us feel that it is specifically aimed at us.
The ways in which texts built to appeal to particular audiences e.g ‘Skins was made for the teenage audiences.