My Summer Task.

 

“New Media technologies have completely changed the ways in which audiences interact with media texts”

Many different sources of media affect multiple lives daily. Over the years sources of media have improved, changed and developed. During the 19^th century media texts such as newspapers and books were extremely popular and part of the few media texts around during that period of time whereas nowadays in the 21st century, adverts in games and television are more up-to-date and popular. Television adverts nowadays are just as important to us as a nation as the newspaper was in the 19^th century. Just because our society is more technologic doesn’t mean that we have disposed of basic but important media texts – we still use the newspaper but most people have it online instead of an actual paper copy.

Years ago people had less of a chance to give their own opinion regarding things in the media, but that has changed greatly. There seems to be more freedom of speech in the 21^st century - meaning you can give your opinion on anything said in a media text. When giving your opinion on media texts, people may not always agree with you but you still have the right to give your honest opinion on it. Something that has developed greatly is the way film reviews are done. Yes, there are still the original reviews in newspapers and magazines but now there are also videos. Many amateur film reviewers like to watch a movie and create a video, giving their own ideologies and thoughts on the finished product they had viewed. There are also more bloggers who have a huge freedom of speech, allowing them to say whatever they want about a film, person or product as long as they have knowledge and reasons behind their opinion.

The ‘Hypodermic Needle Theory’ (also commonly known as the ‘Magic Bullet Theory’) is a theory in which the audience is hypothetically injected with a needle (shot with a bullet) of mass media. It is implied that mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a large group of people by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with a certain message which is hoped to create a desired response. The mass media of the 1940’s and 1950’s was perceived as a powerful and great influence on behavioural changes. Propaganda, which was greatly used during the years of the Second World War (1939-1945), was used by a series of different countries on a massive scale to have a certain image or idea comprehended by their audiences. Propaganda continued to spread across the world, not only being used during the war, but also after, for many different reasons. It is used in a form of media in which the creator influences the attitude of a population or community towards a certain idea or some cause or position. Over the years propaganda has improved throughout the media. It is now featured in a multitude of ways throughout most types of media (newspaper ads, television commercials, radio, billboards ect).  

The Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) is an approach to understanding why and how people use certain media to satisfy certain needs. The theory assumes that the audience has power over their media intake – it also assumes that the audience should be able to actively interpret media into their own lives. Most theories, such as the Hypodermic Needle Theory, all question ‘What does media do to people?’ while UGT questions ‘What do people do with the media?’ People seem to believe that the media only affects the people but that isn’t 100% true as people can affect the media too – they can even affect the way it is interpreted. For example, in Britain and many other countries throughout the world, buying a newspaper is an almost, if not, daily occurrence. Newspapers tend to focus on celebrity gossip, sport, or the daily lives of people. The purpose of a newspaper is to inform people of the news around them, whether it is good or bad, a credit crunch or a death; newspapers are there to inform the public of it all. People really affect the newspaper and the information received from it. If people do not agree with the information they have received from a newspaper most the time, but not all the time, readers can write in to the media text and give their view on the written text – this can sometimes be positive but other times not so much.     

Furthermore, another massively important and greatly used mass media source is the internet. There is a lot of controversy on what you can say and view on the internet. You can see almost anything you’d wish to online and many people do not agree with this way of media. As the Hypodermic Needle Theory questions ‘what does the media do to people? ’the internet is a great way for it to work it’s magic. Many people believe that you have no control over what you view online, but that’s a lie. The media doesn’t affect the people but rather it’s about what the people do with the media they have viewed. If you do not wish to view something on the internet then you do not have to. People are the main reason media and information gets spread around so quickly. On an internet website such as YouTube, videos can become viral. This is when people all the world watch this certain video. This can happen when people talk about the video and the information spreads around like wild fire. Like the Hypodermic Needle Theory says – it is like the audience, in this case a few people, is injected with a needle, the videos that they have just watched, and it has a direct effect on them, in this case the viewer/audience talks about the videos either via the internet in a blog or video or to another person.

Overall, new media technologies have changed the way that audiences react with media texts. The internet is the main and most used new media text that has changed the way people view the media and the world.  Being able to access almost anything you want to on this source of media helps to change most people’s views on the media – especially on celebrities who are always in there spotlight, and can now have photos taken of them and uploaded for the world to see within seconds. Posting something on the internet means it will stay there forever, even after it is deleted. It is a permanent source of media that will permanently store information. Many people do not agree with the way new media technologies have changed media texts but without these new technologies available to us our society would not be the way it is today.