Audience Theory

provides a starting point for many Media Studies tasks. Whether you are constructing a text or analysing one, you will need to consider the destination of that text (i.e. its target audience) and how that audience (or any other) will respond to that text.

Over the course of the past century or so, media analysts have developed several effects models, ie theoretical explanations of how humans ingest the information transmitted by media texts and how this might influence (or not) their behaviour. Effects theory is still a very hotly debated area of Media and Psychology research, as no one is able to come up with indisputable evidence that audiences will always react to media texts one way or another. The scientific debate is clouded by the politics of the situation: some audience theories are seen as a call for more censorship, others for less control. Whatever your personal stance on the subject, you must understand the following theories and how they may be used to deconstruct the relationship between audience and text.

The hypodermic needle model

The intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver.

Two-step flow

The people with most access to media, and highest media literacy explain and diffuse the content to others. This is a modern version of the hypodermic needle model.

Uses and gratifications

People are not helpless victims of mass media, but use the media to get specific gratifications.

Reception theory

The meaning of a "text" is not inherent within the text itself, but the audience must elicit meaning based on their individual cultural background and life experiences

Obstinate audience theory

This theory assumes that there is a transactional communication between the audience and the media. The audience actively selects what messages to pay attention to. The Zimmerman-Bauer study found that the audience also participates in the communication by influencing the message.

Regulatory Bodies

BBFC: (Taken from their website, this is a correct explanation of what the company do)  


The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos/ DVDs since the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984. The British Board of Film Censors was set up in 1912 by the film industry as an independent body to bring a degree of uniformity to the classification of film nationally. Statutory powers on film remain with the local councils, which may overrule any of the BBFC’s decisions, passing films we reject, banning films we have passed, and even waiving cuts, instituting new ones, or altering categories for films exhibited under their own licensing jurisdiction. In 1984 Parliament passed the Video Recordings Act. This act stated that, subject to certain exemptions, video recordings offered for sale or hire commercially in the UK must be classified by an authority designated by the Secretary of State. The President and Vice Presidents of the BBFC were so designated, and charged with applying the new test of ‘suitability for viewing in the home’. At this point the Board’s title was changed to the British Board of Film Classification to reflect the fact that classification plays a far larger part in the BBFC’s work than censorship. The BBFC is a not for profit organisation, and its fees are adjusted only as required to cover its costs. In order to preserve its independence, the BBFC has never received subsidies from either the film industry or the government. Its income is derived solely from the fees it charges for its services, calculated by measuring the running time of films or DVDs submitted for classification. The tariff must be approved by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.


PCC: (taken from Wikipedia for a correct understanding of what the company do and deal with)


The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) is a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC is funded by the annual levy it charges newspapers and magazines. It has no legal powers – all newspapers and magazines voluntarily contribute to the costs of, and adhere to the rulings of, the Commission, making the industry self-regulating. The PCC received extensive criticism for its lack of action in the News of the World phone hacking affair, including from MPs and Prime Minister David Cameron, who called for it to be replaced with a new system in July 2011.

Shropshire Star Analysis + History

Shropshire Star


The Shropshire Star is a regional newspaper, which mainly covers the whole of Shropshire, but it also covers parts of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, the Llangollen area and northern Powys in the UK
The Shropshire Star is published every single day of the week, and and is 42p an issue. The newspaper is usually sold in shops and supermarkets but you can get them home delivered for a small monthly fee. The Shropshire Star is owned by Midlands News Association and was the first new post war evening newspaper, which when came out, was already using new technology that even some national dailies weren't using. The Midland News Association also owns 2 radio stations, The Severn and The Wyre, these were then sold in 2011. It is the 9th leading publisher in the country, and has sub-sections of Express + Star Ltd. and Shropshire Newspapers Ltd. The Midland News Association owns these papers, but they are published by higher end publishers. Because many of us live in Shropshire and the paper seems so normal and small to us, it actually had a huge effect on the print media industry today. Hot metal printing was the normal slow way of prinintg used by every paper, however the Shropshire Star was the first newspaper to introduce web offset printing. Offset printing is a commonly used in this day and age. Its when the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. There used to be 8 editions of the paper, these being County, South, North, West and East. Where as now I have only found a County one.


The Shropshire Star was the first post war evening newspaper, with its first edition being released on the 5th October 1964. The Shropshire Star was at the forefront of new technology, as it had better picture and printing quality. Amazingly such a small independent paper managed to create its own identity in comparison to the national dailies, as it became the pioneer of colour! Shropshire Star was the first paper to have a front cover in colour, and ironically it was released the same day of Winston Churchill's funeral. And astonishingly in March 1967 the paper was the first in britain to publish a colour photograph on the very same day it was taken, this was when the Queen herself visited Shropshire. Along side of being the first to do everything, the Shropshire Star and its sister paper in Wolverhampton were at this point at the from of revolution of all other newspapers, the computer revolution. 
Shortly the paper moved 'Double keying' (when the journalist would bring back the work for someone to type it up for them) to single keying (where the journalist typed it themselves). Effectively this turned journalists to printers as-well. in 1988 Shoprshire Star went online, and it was also one of the first too. Its web address started off as 'www.shropshire-online.com' then they recently changed it to 'www.shropshirestar.com'. The website was revamped in 2003 and 2006 to give it a more contemporary look. 


Almost 172,000 adult readers read the Shropshire Star each night, and 82% of all Shropshire Stars distributed are home delivered. This shows the high demand of the paper and its popularity. Not only this but the website for the paper impressively gets over 1 million views a month. 
Statistics:
Time spent reading the paper is a huge point in indicating weather the reader is interested. Shropshire Star average issue reader spends about 33 minutes reading the paper. And the Shropshire Star employed around 400 people. 

The total circulation for the Shropshire Star for January 2012, was 55491 with the total readership being 139927 adults, 82% of these readers have their papers home delivered (£10 a week). With 71370 being Men and 68558 being Women. According to statistics the majority of readers that buy the papers are aged between 45 and 54. Also C2DE readers, buy the paper more than ABC1, showing that working class people read it more than the upper class. The Shropshire Express + Star only got around a 19,000 nightly circulation whereas by the mid 1980s, the Shropshire Star was hitting of 100,000 readers a night. The paper then went from its original 3 editions to a further 6 more. In Shropshire, 39% of the adult population read the Shropshire Star, which is remarkable as The Sun only has 14%, coming in second. Out of 98,458 readers, 57% of them do not buy another paper to read. and 35% of these read it 6 nights a week. According to TNSmedia 2008, it takes an average of 33 minutes to read the Shropshire Star. Not only this but to appeal to the more modern audience the paper also has a website, where 182413 people visit it every month.

Not only does it have a website it also has apps available on apple iTunes. This is a more mobile approach, so you can read the paper wherever your at, without having to carry around all the paper! The paper is in a Tabloid format, which it what newspapers are typically presented as. The majority of the local news on the front page, is news that would be relevant to the whole County, rather than seperate news stories, this gives a high level of meaningfulness to the stories. Throughout the paper, the stories decrease in importance. A lot of the local news is about achievements within the county, especially to do with schools, and charity. In the back pages of the paper, there is a section for sport, which shows the achievements of schools, and sports teams in the county, and the back page shows main sports news from major events, or major sports matches between different teams. Photographs are used throughout the paper in some articles to promote certain stories, this could be a promotion for a theatre performance or a charity event. They are also used to identify people who have committed crimes or have been killed. They are mainly used to inform people of a story. There is enough national and international news to keep a high solus readership, as recently we have seen stories about the Oscars, and the Grammys.

The lexis in this paper is formal, and yet easy to understand. They do use sophisticated words at times, but nothing that is hard to understand. The mode of address within the paper is very friendly and direct. This suggests that the paper is aware of its target audience, who is a varied mixture of ABC1 and C2DE readers, this reflects on the paper well as it shows that it has a high standard for its readers. 

The Shropshire Star is Shropshire's biggest paper and at the rate its going for is one of the best value for money. Due to it being on such high demand there isn't any competitors that will threaten profits or the paper in any way what so ever.