Reception theory

Given that the effects model and the uses and gratifications have their problems and limitations a different approach to audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham university in the 1970's.

This considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and then decoded (understood) by audience.

The theory suggests that: When a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience.

In some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was trying to say.

In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message.

Stuart Hall identified three types of audience reading (or decoding) of the text:
1.) Dominant or preferred
2.) Negotiated
3.) Oppositional

1.) Dominant- Where the audience decodes te messages as the producer wants them to do and broadly agrees with it e.g. watching a political speech and agreeing with it.

2.) Negotiated- Where the audience accepts/rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views .e.g neither agreeing or diagreeing with the polotical speech or being disinterested.

3.) Oppositional- Where the dominanat meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, polotical or video logical reasons e.g. total rejection of the polotical speech and active opposition.

Audience decodes meaning/message: producer-dominant.
encodes-negotiated
meaning-oppositional