Tracking The Audience

3 Pages 668 Words

Reception Analysis
-Reception analysis is the study of how audiences construct different meaning from media texts.
-Researches believe that media texts only get meaning at the moment of reception.
-Audiences produce the meaning of the text, not the media.
-Reception analysis researchers are interested in the culturally shared meanings of media texts.
*Groups of people who construct the same meanings of texts are called interpretive communities.
-Subcultures are groups of audiences that prefer the same types of media
*Ex. Soap opera fans
-Reception researchers use qualitative methods of research to conduct their investigations
*Ex. Small group and individual interviews
-One problem with reception analysis is that the text and audience are separated from the larger context of the way that the media affects everyday life.

The Media in Everyday Life
-What roles does media play in everyday life?
-David Morley is an audience researcher who thinks it is important to look at the ways that families use television, rather than the meanings they derive from it.
-Morley wants to show that watching television is not one-dimensional. There are different meanings when you watch it in different situations.
*Ex. Watching T.V. by yourself is a different experience than watching it with a friend.
-Harold Bausinger’s points on understanding media in everyday life
*You have to take into consideration all types of media and the way audiences use them.
*All media is not used completely. You only read one section of a newspaper, watch part of television show, etc.
*Media is part of everyday life and cannot be isolated from other activities. You can watch T.V. and do homework at the same time.
*Media is a collective process. One uses media while interacting with other people.
-There are different social norms when media is being consumed.
*Ex. David Morley’s study shows that when families watch television together, the father usuall...