This theory suggests there is one single interpretation of a message, i.e. that all audiences are equal.

The message is sent directly from the sender to the receiver without interference.

The media has all the power, audiences have no power at all.

Frankfurt School

Laswell (1948)

Shannon Weaver (1949)

All these theories are linear, later versions add 'noise' and acknowledge the feedback of the audience.

This theory suggests that messages are used in different ways by different audiences. Each audience member may use a media message in a different way depending on their circumstances at a given time. For example, you may watch the weather to find out if you need to wear your blazer on a school day, on the weekend you may watch the weather be deciding to go to the beach with friends. Furthermore, you may watch television to get information (the weather) or you may be watching to 'veg out'. In either case you are still considered to be 'active' because you have chosen to 'veg out' in front of the television instead of reading a book or going to bed.

Key words.

Instrumental / Ritualistic

Surveillance / Personal Identity / Personal Relationships / Diversion

Catharsis (Feshback and Singer -1971)

This theory suggests that the message can only reinforce knowledge that you already have.The media will, therefore, have little influence because you already have, for example, negative reporting of violence against Indian students may reinforce an already held belief that there are too may foreign students in Australian Universities.

This theory fails when new or unexplained material is presented as there is no reference point for the audience to compare the event to.

Dependency (DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach - 1976) The more a person is dependant on the media for having his/her needs fulfilled, the more important the media will be to that person.

Cultivation (George Gerbner) The media, in particular TV are the main source of storytelling in our society. The media seeks to cultivate ideas in the receiver by telling them how the world exists. Research has concentrated on the attitudes rather than actions of the receiver. From this idea comes the Mean World and Scary Syndrome. This suggests that by watching television in particular, you will gather a distorted view of the world in particular with reference to violence. You will develop the notion that world is a much more violent place than it really is.

This theory suggests that the media does not tell audiences what to think, but what to think about. That is, the media sets an agenda.

This theory argues that a gate keeping process takes place that controls the flow of information. (Selection, Omission, and Construction.)

This theory suggests that the media itself has little or no power to influence an audience. This is because each time a text is 'viewed' the audience will interpret the text in a new and different way. There are multiple meanings, in multiple texts, that can be obtained from multiple media sources. There is an element of Reception Context here because a given text will have a different meaning depending on where it is received.

Under this model, by definition, the audience is always active. This is because your mood will change, and you will have aged, interacted with people and other media, and generally 'grown' as a person since the last viewing, even if that growth is very small.