The document discusses several theories related to how media and television content can influence audiences: - Moral panic theory explains how the media can exaggerate issues and define people/groups as threats, potentially causing mass hysteria. It often involves five stages including defining a threat and authorities responding. - Encoding/decoding theory suggests audiences actively derive their own meanings from media texts based on their experiences, which can be dominant, negotiated, or oppositional to the producer's intent. - Uses and gratifications theory proposes audiences choose media to fulfill certain needs like information, entertainment, social interaction, personal identity, and escapism.

1. Adam
Task 6
Units 25,26

2. Rating Wars
• Rating wars is when 2 broadcasters compete to get the highest amount of viewers watching their
channels.
• Ratings are extremely important in a multi-channel, competitive TV environment as commercial
broadcasters need high ratings to attract advertisers, to attract subscribers and therefore to make a
profit.
• On the other hand the BBC are heavily affected by ratings because they need to know that people
enjoy their programs so that they know whether or not to continue making them but also they are
competing with commercial broadcasters and want to have the best public image in regards to
ratings.
• Since the BBC is fined by the license fee, they can afford to spend lots of money on specific
programs whereas commercial broadcasters have to earn they money from advertising and
investments and this is why the BBC wants to keep the license fee going.
• The most common example of this is ITV & BBC when X factor and doctor who were on at the same
time and Britain's got talent clashes with strictly come dancing.

3. Technology
• The television business has changed from provider-driven to consumer-driven. For
broadcasters and operators – who used to decide whether content lived or died —
the internet has proven to be a most disruptive development, looming menacingly
over their profit stream. The internet is changing the TV business forever.
• These changes affect the definition of TV itself; what do we really mean by
television? It used to refer to a cabinet-like device, with scheduled programming on
a small number of broadcast channels. It became cable, satellite and internet
television (IPTV) with hundreds of channels. Today, viewers can watch football,
drama, news and the latest cat video at will, sometimes simultaneously with their
tablet or smartphones showing you how much and quickly technology has
developed. • Viewers are in control, creating personal playlists while digital
recorders, applications and TV web sites accommodate binge-watching.
Commentary moves immediately to social media, not to a weekly TV Guide or the
daily newspaper. YouTube and commercial content intermingle. This has been
happening for years, but the TV industry is only starting to respond to its challenges.

4. Technology
• more than 10% of TV programs were watched on a time-shifted basis last
year according to Think Box, which is an all time record. • With all these
changes to technology and social media has enabled TV advertising to grow
and it is expected that advertising online will grow more than 20% this which
is a beneficial aspects of social media for TV industry.
• Also with constant upgrades to the sky and virgin digital recorders,
broadcasters have realized that the majority of the household users record
then watch their programs as it allows them to skip the adverts. This could
cause massive issues for the broadcasters as advertisers are paying lots of
money for the broadcasters to air the advert, but with many skipping the
adverts its not allowing the message to go through. Causing box providers to
have to come up with new ways to get people to watch the adverts, like on
demand which basically forces the viewers to watch the adverts for a certain
amount of time.

5. Social Media
Originally, analysts predicted that the rise in Internet usage would decrease the
amount of time people spent watching TV. However, Analysts now says that
this didn’t turn out to be the case. The Internet and social media have actually
enhanced TV viewing in many ways without negatively affecting its popularity as
a pastime.
Analysts in the US sent surveys out in the mail to a random statistical sampling
of people around the U.S. asking about the television shows they liked and
watched. Then, TV ratings were determined by the results. This method is still
used by Analysts today, but the Internet and social media also have an
influence on TV ratings. For instance, companies can compare the average
number of fans on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to see if a television show
is popular. Some of the surveys can also be completed and turned in online.

6. Social Media
Another huge advantage to the Internet and social media is that people never have to worry about
missing their favourite TV show because it’s available online for a short period of time after the initial
airing on TV. However, many televisions networks are now requiring people to login through their TV
provider before streaming. This is very new territory for networks and cable providers and the rules for
content distribution are still being disputed. Traditionally, cable TV has always been regulated by the
FCC to keep certain companies from becoming monopolies in the marketplace. This means that
broadcasters are required to pay for the rights to carry Cable signals and distribute content. However,
these acts were created before Internet streaming technologies and have since come into question by
new business models like Netflix.
Hashtags on Twitter Enable Conversations About Television Shows -Twitter has changed television,
too. It isn’t as popular as Facebook, but it still has nearly 200 million users. Television networks are
taking advantage of this large market to engage with their fans. For instance, many television shows
now display hashtags in the bottom corner of the screen during shows so fans can easily get on twitter
and see what others are saying about the show, chiming in themselves.

7. • Anyone can search these hashtags on Twitter and follow along, even if they don’t want to participate
in the conversation. There was even a Twitter campaign lead by die-hard Chuck fans who tried to stop
the show from being cancelled by talking about it on Twitter. • Facebook Provides Additional
Information to Fans - Twitter isn’t the only social network that has changed television. Most television
shows also have a Facebook page where fans can read up on the latest episodes, learn more about
the actors, and enter to win prizes related to the show. This keeps fans more interested in the show.
Many television shows, such as Grey’s Anatomy, even show sneak-peak videos through Facebook to
get fans excited about upcoming episodes. Facebook is a great way for networks to promote their
shows because when someone likes a page on Facebook, all the friends in his or her network are
notified. This encourages even more people to visit the television show’s page and also become fans.
This means social media is now crucial to promoting new television shows. You will find every single
popular television show on Facebook. • YouTube Turns Commercials into Viral Videos - Television has
always had commercials, but social media and the Internet have changed the way they’re presented.
For instance, companies are always trying to come up with commercials that’ll turn into viral videos on
YouTube. This is a great advertising strategy because it gets people to remember a show more.
Another trend is for commercials to invite viewers to connect with them on social networks. The goal of
commercials is no longer just to advertise products. It’s to create a loyal fan base on social media, too.
• As you can see, social media and the Internet have had a significant impact on television. In general,
television shows want to engage with their fans as much as possible to gain a more loyal audience and
this is made possible through social media.
Social Media

8. Regulations
• Ofcom is the communications regulator in the UK. they regulate the TV, radio and video-on-demand sectors, fixed-line
telecoms (phones), mobiles and postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate. they make sure
that people in the UK get the best from their communications services and are protected from scams and sharp practices,
while ensuring that competition can thrive. • they operate under a number of Acts of Parliament, including in particular the
Communications Act 2003. We must act within the powers and duties set for it by Parliament in legislation. The
Communications Act says that Ofcom’s principal duty is to further the interests of citizens and of consumers, where
appropriate by promoting competition. Accountable to Parliament, they set and enforce regulatory rules for the sectors for
which we have responsibility. They also have powers to enforce competition law in those sectors, alongside the Competition
and Markets Authority. is funded by fees from industry for regulating broadcasting and communications networks, and
grantin-aid from the Government. • The watershed means the time when TV programmes which might be unsuitable for
children can be broadcast. Protecting children from harmful material on TV and radio is one of Ofcom’s most important
duties. Their Broadcasting Code sets standards for television and radio shows and broadcasters must follow its rules. There
are strict rules about what can be shown on TV before the 9pm watershed. We deal with most content on television, radio
and video on demand services. Ofcom also regulates BBC content (except the BBC World Service) Also Most types of
broadcast advertising are handled on our behalf by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

9. Ofcom rules
Our rules for television and radio programmes are set out in the Broadcasting Code. The rules in the Broadcasting Code
also apply to the BBC iPlayer.
This code is the rule book that broadcasters have to follow and it covers a number of areas, including: protecting the
under-eighteens: for example from offensive language, sexual material and violence through appropriate scheduling,
including the watershed on TV; harm and offence: for example protecting the audience from the use of offensive language
and the portrayal of sex and violence which is not justified by the context of the programme; crime, disorder, hatred and
abuse: ensuring that programmes do not incite crime, include hate speech which is not justified by the context of the
programme, or reward criminality; religion: dealing with the proper treatment of religious beliefs and the protection of
vulnerable audience members from exploitation; news and current affairs: maintaining due accuracy in news and due
impartiality in news and current affairs; elections and referendums: during which there are specific rules about treating
candidates fairly; fairness: ensuring that individuals and organisations are not treated unfairly in a programme; privacy:
ensuring that the privacy of individuals and organisations is not unwarrantably infringed during the making of, or within, a
programme;

10. Audience effect theory
Moral Panic occurs when someone or something is defined by the media as a threat to the values or interests of society.
The key moral panic theorist is Stanley Cohen. Cohen suggested in his 1972 book ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’ that a
moral panic occurs when “condition, episode, person or group of people emerges to become defined as a threat to societal
values and interests”.
Stanley Cohen believes the media play an important role in enforcing moral panic, even by just reporting the news.
In Cohen’s view the media overreact or sensationalise aspects of behaviour which challenge social norms. The media’s
representation therefore then helps to define it, which can then lead to outsiders adopting and observing the behaviour
based on the model they see in the media. The moral panic depicted by the media fuels further unacceptable behaviour.
In extreme cases moral panic creates mass hysteria within society. The general public start to believe whatever is being
reported on is occurring everywhere in society.Cohen defined his five stages of moral panic as:
1. Something or someone is defined as a threat to values or interests • 2. This threat is depicted in an easily recognisable
form by the media • 3. There is a rapid build-up of public concern • 4. There is a response from authorities or opinion
makers • 5. The panic recedes or results in social changes

11. Moral panic example
In the 1980s, parents around the country were gripped by an overpowering fear
that their local preschool was actually a haven for vicious sexual abuse, driven by
a Satanist agenda and brought to light only when children's memories were
"recovered."
Not a word of it was real. The "Satanic Panic" of the '80s was a baseless fear of
devil worship and Occult rituals, sparked almost entirely by ratings-hungry media
and well-intentioned, but totally misguided parents. The allegations made by
children involved in the "sex abuse" were absurd, and usually fueled by leading
questions, while based on bogus scientific notions of "recovered memories" and
logic-defying claims like teachers flying through the air. There was no compelling
evidence to support any of them.

12. Audience effect theory
Another theory that states how the media affects the public is the Encoding / Decoding Theory
thought of in 1980 by Stuart Hall. Stuart Hall’s Encoding / Decoding Theory suggests that audience
derive their own meaning from media texts. These meanings can be dominant, negotiated or
oppositional. The Encoding / Decoding Theory is a theory of communication which suggests
audiences actively read media texts and don’t just accept them passively. They interpret the media
text according to their own cultural background and experiences. In his Encoding / Decoding
theory, Hall suggested that media texts are read in three main ways. A dominant or preferred
reading of the text is the way that its creators want an audience to understand and respond to it.
An oppositional reading of the text is when an audience completely rejects the message. A
negotiated reading is when the audience interprets the text in their own unique way, which might
not be the way its producer intended.

13. Uses and Gratifications theory
Uses and Gratifications theory as developed by Blumler and Katz suggests that media users play
an active role in choosing and using the media. Blumler and Katz believed that the user seeks out
the media source that best fulfils their needs. • The uses and gratifications theory assumes the
audience chooses what it wants to watch for five different reasons. • Information and Education –
the viewer wants to acquire information, knowledge and understanding by watching programmes
like The News or Documentaries. • Entertainment – Viewers watch programmes for enjoyment. •
Personal Identity - Viewers can recognise a person or product, role models that reflect similar
values to themselves and mimic or copy some of their characteristics. • Integration and social
interaction – the ability for media products to produce a topic of conversation between people. For
example who is the best contestant on The X-factor who which was the best goal shown on Match
of the day. • Escapism – Computer games and action films let viewers escape their real lives and
imagine themselves in those situations.