Audience Theory...

Media Effects Models

Much research has been done into the possible effects of the media on its audience. There is also research that shows how the media and audience affect each other.

Hypodermic Syringe Model: 

There is an argument that the media has a direct and immediate effect on its audience, like a drug being injected directly into a vein. If you watch something violent, you become violent. The following headline from 'The Times' gives an example:

Grand Theft Auto withdrawn in Thailand after copycat killing 

Thai distributors have pulled GTA IV after after a 19-year-old  

killed a taxi driver while recreating a scene  from the game. 

(Jonathan Richards, 

The Times, 4 August 2008)

Cultural Effects Model: 

This model also states that the media has an effect on its audience, However, unlike the drug analogy, it sees the effects as being much slower. Like a dripping tap, the repeated messages of the media slowly enter our consciousness and new norms are set. Certain values and behaviours are 'normalised'. 

Two-Step Flow Model:

This model also accepts that an audience is affected by the media, but this is seen as an indirect effect. Some people are seen as opinion leaders and they interpret the media for others. An example for this in 2008 was when comedians Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were taken off the air due to thousands of complaints, which were based not on directly hearing their show, but on media opinion of the show.