Audience Theory: From Passive to Active How do audiences “read”, interpret, and interact with media products? A bit of history When Media Studies first started as a “serious” discipline, the focus was very much with the effects that the media had on the audience. This approach saw the audience as a passive mass, being brainwashed by the messages that flooded them from TV, newspapers, films, the radio and so on. In effects theory , the media are powerful, negative forces who control the masses. The media is seen as a hypodermic needle , injecting our helpless minds with messages which we take on board fully. The effects model is still in evidence today, particularly in tabloid newspapers who construct moral panics around the latest buzz in the media- rap music videos, horror movies, Facebook and so on. Moral Panics Moral panics happen when members of a society and culture become outraged, fearful and upset by the chall...
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