Audience Theory

Audience research

The notion of the 'active audience' is vigorously advocated by John Fiske (1987-1989) who rejects the claim that audiences are 'cultural dupes' and that the cultural product necessarily promotes capalist ideology. Fiske abandones the term 'audience' as it implies a 'mass' number of people. He refers to these individuals as 'readers' which acknoledges the social position of the individual. Fiske is basically implying that each person is an individual and should not be refered to as an 'audience' or 'mass' simply because the term 'audience' does not identify individuals in a specific target audience for a magazine.

Fiske goes on to argue that the meaning of a text is dependent on its interpretation by the consumer in relation to their lived experience. Consumers are engaged in ‘ripping’ or appropriating existing texts and inscribing them with their own meanings. Fiske believes that the consumers demonise others and the meaning of a text is dependent on its interpretation by the consumer in relation to their lived experience.

Hartley (1987) claims that the fabrication of the ‘audience’ is perpetuated by media industries and media academics for their own purposes: ‘in all cases the product is a fiction which serves the needs of the imagining institution. In no case is the audience “real”, or external to its discursive construction’

Hartley is basically implying that audiences believe what the institue feeds them without fully researching it themselves. When he states that the audience is not 'real' it indicates that if the audience is not 'real' the target audience is not 'real' either and this gives strong indication that the company is dominating and forcing this on the audience.

Both theorys are fairly out of date and highlight the active and passive audiences within society and what each theorist believes in, within the media.