Read these current press regulation stories:https://www.theguardian.com/media/press-regulation 5 - Summarise a story about press regulation today. What are the issues today around regulating the press?
To assert that, say, 'media violence' will bring negative consequences is not only to presume that depictions of violence in the media will always be promoting antisocial behaviour, and that such a category exists and makes sense, as noted above, but also assumes that the medium holds a singular message which will be carried unproblematically to the audience. The effects model therefore performs the double deception of presuming (a) that the media presents a singular and clear-cut 'message', and (b) that the proponents of the effects model are in a position to identify what that message is.
Make notes and find at least five interesting points about the theory.
This audience effects model of media was a popular way of thinking about the media's effects on audiences in the 1930s and 1940s, until the late 1950s when Lazarsfeld and Katz developed their Two Step Flow theory of audience effects. (As opposed to the single step suggested by the hypodermic needle theory.)
TASK:
What examples can you find that indicate the BBFC used the hypodermic needle theory as a basis for their regulation of the film industry. Explain how the theory could explain or impact on the BBFC's decisions.
RESEARCH TASK:
The hypodermic needle theory and it's suggestion that audiences are affected by media products directly maybe seen now as too simplistic, but we can see it's origins in Gerbner'scultivation theory. And in McCombs and Shaw'sagenda setting theory. These theories are part of the effects tradition, because they suggest media has direct effects on its audiences. Find out more about these two theories, and how you think they impact on media regulation
a) today
b) in the past
c) in the future
David Gauntlett - University of Westminster