An Audience is...

Audience: One of the key elements in the Key Concepts of Media, these are the consumers for whom the product is made for or targeted at.

The Hypodermic needle Theory, Magic Bullet and Reception Theory are all used to describe the ways in which an audience requires, uses and responds to a media product.

The Hypodermic Needle Theory: this theory suggests that the audience need and require a continued source of media and absorb whatever they are told. The metaphor of a needle is used to describe the audience as passive willingly absorb the information ‘injected’ into then by the needle (media).

The Magic Bullet: This theory revolves around the metaphor of the media using their media ‘guns’ to shoot ‘magic bullets’ containing media information directly into their heads.

Unlike the former theories the reception theory contradicts the ways an audience may react.

The Reception theory: This theory suggests that the audience is far more active than suggested in the Hypodermic needle theory and the magic bullet. Instead, a member of the audience may look at a piece of media and actively select which piece of information they choose to believe and not to believe. The audience member will interpret the media in their own individual manner based on their own intellect, culture, education and social preferences.