2. AUDIENCE Pertemuan 4 Matakuliah: Sosiologi Komunikasi Massa Tahun: 2009/2010

3. Bina Nusantara University 3 Define the audience Reflect on the media’s view of the audience Consider the various ways in which the audience has been imagined by academic research – varieties of cultural pessimism, ‘liberal-pluralist’, ‘encoding/decoding’, media ethnography Consider how different theories, methods and concepts shape our understanding of the media audience

4. Bina Nusantara University 4 Defining ‘the audience’ C14 th -15 th ‘the act of hearing’; a formal or judicial ‘hearing’ (the court of audience); a formal interview with a superior (‘granted an audience’) C 17 th – 18 th – those physically, and collectively, present at a sermon, speech or theatrical production C 19 th -21 st – consumers of ‘mass’ forms of communication From New Keyworks: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society, Bennett et. al 2005.

5. The Audience –Mass media distinguished from other social institutions by necessary presence of audience –Identifiable, finite group or a much larger, undefined group Who Is In the Audience? Bina Nusantara University 5

6. The Audience –Increasingly, media market themselves to a particular audience –The role of audience members as opinion leaders intrigues social researchers The Segmented Audience Opinion leader: someone who, through day-to-day personal contacts and communication, influences opinions and decisions of others Bina Nusantara University 6

7. The Audience –Response often influenced by social characteristics: Occupation Race Education Income Audience Behavior Bina Nusantara University 7

8. 8 The media’s view of the audience Measuring the size and composition of audiences Quantitative methods and indicators Nielsen (US) BARB (UK) Qualitative methods to gauge meaning and reaction The audience a product made by the commercial media to sell to advertisers

9. Bina Nusantara University 9 Approaching audience research ‘The history of academic research in this field is best characterised as a continuing dialogue between perspectives which stress the power of the media over their audiences on the one hand, and perspectives which stress the active dimension of how audiences respond to the messages they receive on the other’ (Morley in Bennett et.al 2005: 10)

10. Bina Nusantara University 10 The audience 1) Cultural pessimism Hypodermic model Critical Marxist accounts (Frankfurt School) – culture as industry & explotation Effects tradition (social conservatism?) One-way process – passive audience Media producers (state or industry) Media audience

11. Bina Nusantara University 11 The audience 2) ‘Liberal-pluralist’ Media communication is still one-way but other factors can get in the way (Katz and Lazersfeld 1955) Influence, rather than effects – ‘two-step flow’ Audience is selective. ‘Uses and gratifications’ – company, distraction, the relief of tension, catharsis, social solidarity, education sender(other factors)message(other factors)receiver From Livingstone in Gillespie (ed) Media Audiences

12. Bina Nusantara University 12 Frameworks of Knowledge Relations of Production Technical Infrastructure Frameworks of Knowledge Relations of Production Technical Infrastructure Encoding Meaning structures 1 Decoding Meaning structures 2 Programme as meaningful discourse The audience 3) Encoding/Decoding

13. Bina Nusantara University 13 Encoding/Decoding Media messages are ideological Textual analysis & audience analysis (Morley, Nationwide) Negotiation – or struggle – between –dominant –negotiated –oppositional readings Hegemony (Gramsci)

14. Bina Nusantara University 14 The audience 4) Media ethnography Inspired by feminist accounts of the media audience The politics of pleasure Uses of media in everyday life Qualitative accounts – meaningfulness of audience engagement (Dallas, The Young and the Restless)

15. Bina Nusantara University 15 Conclusion Media industries operate with a particular vision of their audience. Audiences are ‘made’ through – Research methods (quantitative and qualitative) –conceptual approaches to society (liberal-pluralist, Marxist, feminist) ‘The audience’ does not exist!