AUDIENCES
Growing up as a gen z in the ‘digital era,’ we get to see things quite differently from the ways our predecessors see or saw things. Although most people we have gotten to know in our lifetime saw the invention and use of the TV, how we have all been able to access it has been different. In the last 150 years, we have seen an enormous incline in technology that has allowed us more access to be audiences and, more importantly, active audiences. To put it in perspective, billions of people worldwide have televisions in their homes, whereas in 1947, only a few thousand people had televisions (Hur, 2019). Increasing technological advances means the media has more access to us. We have more access to the media, creating a platform for society to sit on with unprecedented responsibilities.
I find myself falling into being a part of an audience to media, particularly reality TV. When I watch shows such as ‘Married at First Sight,’ ‘Love Island’ and ‘Keeping up with the Kardashian’s I find myself getting quite involved in people’s lives that I don’t even know. The show ‘love island’ seemed to encourage this ideology because they had an app designated purely for the Australian public to be involved in voting for who the hottest islanders are, who seems the smartest, etc. However, not in relation to the love island cast, other media platforms, whether it be reality TV or even celebrity drama, you don’t realise that sometimes being too much of an active audience can potentially harm real-life people that, on the contrary to what you believe. Ines, a star on the reality TV show ‘Married at First Sight,’ received major black-lash after episodes aired of her being a complete nightmare. It was reported by the daily mail that Ines wasn’t coping well, had lost 12 kilos and was recluse (scrimshire, 2019). Although terrible behaviour as an adult is infuriating to watch, it’s important to recognise that the show only showed us what they wanted to show us, and bullying against one individual shouldn’t be our responsibility as an active audience.
Looking at our roles as an audience in society is something that a lot of us can learn from and take responsibility to be useful as an active audience. Not being active in watching reality TV but using the media to enforce the ideologies of democracy and critically thinking even when being exposed to media. Researching yourself and immersing yourself in two different points of view is our responsibility as an audience to our society.
REPRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION
Pamela Anderson, a former Baywatch star advertisement for ‘Peta’ organisation created some big controversies throughout its audience when it was first released, so much so that it was banned in Canada because it was deemed too ‘sexist.’
The poster reveals Anderson wearing a bikini seductively posing and has labelled her body as you would an animal. The campaign was meant to encourage vegetarianism by showing that we have the same body parts however Montreal local officials did not see this as appropriate and branded the ad as sexist. Canadian born Anderson was shocked by the ban decision, saying: “In a city that is known for its exotic dancing and for being progressive and edgy, how sad that a woman would be banned from using her own body in a political protest” (daily mail online reporter, 2010). Although both points of views have a point, I think it’s important to consider the history and ethical standpoint behind both ideologies. Feminism is a side where for hundreds of years woman have been sexualised and treated as objects, so when a woman chooses to sexualise herself to sell a way of life (vegetarianism), it becomes branded as sexist. On the other hand, woman have also been suppressed by societal views for hundreds of years, is society once again suppressing the freedom of using our bodies in how we please or deem acceptable? Are we still bound to strictly following social norms and being inherently trapped in a society that values conformity over freedom of expression? Of course, however, it is not up to Canada to decide for the rest of the world if it is sexist or not and some people do not agree with Canada’s decision. One opinion article from ‘the province,’ goes as far as to title his post ‘Pamela Anderson’s ad is Sexist? You must be kidding with me’ (Clark, 2010).
Furthermore, whether or not Pamela Anderson’s ad is sexist or not is something that every individual will decide for themselves with their own interpretation based on their own ideological standpoints. The way we view and interpret things will always be shaped by our individual experiences, culture and religion.
MEDIA INDUSTRIES AND OWNERSHIP
Democracy means different ideologies. Because we have the right to choose who we are governed by it is natural that different people have different ideologies. Your political view is framed by your family, education and environment. A big part of the environment in the current day is the media. We live in a society that is saturated by the media. This means the media that we see and the information we obtain from media largely helps to determine our ideologies.
Media is the nervous system of a democracy; if it’s not functioning well, democracy can’t function.
(Jeff Cohen, Founding Director of the Park Center for Independent Media)
This is the reason why the ideology behind media organisations matter.
The general public listen to the news as a source to understand what is happening in the world around them. However, different ideologies push different agenda’s which can be very dangerous. For example, Rupert Murdoch is known for owning most news channels and is known for his conservative values about climate change not being real. For an audience who is not going to go out of their way to do their own research, this can be very misleading because it is biased information.
A lot of my news is sourced from Facebook or Snapchat. Occasionally if there are links to the daily telegraph, daily mail or cosmopolitan I’ll read news from there as well. It shames me to say all the news I read most of the time comes from social media. With our evolving technology and access to constant media, however, that may be the same case for many people my age. Although you are able to have access to ‘credible’ news sources as well as social media, is it really any different? These so-called ‘credible’ news sources are also fuelled by biased ideologies and sometimes even illegally obtained.
Political and ideological bias is something that is generally dependent on our environment, culture and religion. However, with recent technologies and constant access to media our ideologies maybe being shaped by another external source, social media. It is almost impossible to not be swayed by something that is so immersed into our culture. To say it has no influence on how we think or no influence in our interpreting of what we see is something that is very impossible. Although there are people who avoid social media because of its negative connotations, most of us are very active on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
Although social media however is run by the public essentially and not biased media owners (Rupert Murdoch), it’s important to understand that practically everything we are able to see and have an opinion on is objective and relative. Even Facebook has been under much scrutiny after it was found out that they had sold data to a company called ‘Cambridge Analytica.
Reference list
Clark, g., 2021. Pam Anderson PETA ad is sexist? You must be kidding | The Province. [online] Theprovince.com. Available at: <https://theprovince.com/opinion/pam-anderson-peta-ad-is-sexist-you-must-be-kidding> [Accessed 1 April 2021].
Comcowich, W., 2021. McDonald’s Turns a Potentially Dicey Situation into a PR and Marketing Win. [online] glean.info. Available at: <https://glean.info/mcdonalds-turns-a-potentially-dicey-situation-into-a-pr-and-marketing-win/?doing_wp_cron=1617074126.1787500381469726562500> [Accessed 30 March 2021].
hur, 2021. TV households worldwide | Statista. [online] Statista. Available at: <https://www.statista.com/statistics/268695/number-of-tv-households-worldwide/> [Accessed 1 April 2021].
Scrimshire, J., 2021. MAFS’ Ines Basic ‘isn’t coping’ with the backlash to her ‘affair’. [online] Mail Online. Available at: <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6715071/MAFS-Ines-Basic-isnt-coping-backlash-affair-Sam-Ball.html> [Accessed 1 April 2021].
Hannah Ward 