Audience Theories.

Cultivation Theory:

Television has become the main source of storytelling in today’s society. Those who watch more than 4 hours of TV a day are labelled heavy television viewers and those who view less than 4 hours a day, according to George Gerbner (1976) are light viewers. Heavy viewers are exposed to more violence and are therefore affected by the Means World Syndrome, an idea that the world is worse than what it is.  The overuse of TV is creating a homogeneous and fearful populace.

For his results, Gerbner placed TV viewers into 3 categories: light viewers (less than 2 hours a day), medium viewers (2-4 hours a day) & heavy viewers (more than 4 hours a day). He found that heavy viewers held beliefs and opinions similar to those portrayed on television rather than the real world which demonstrates the compound effect of media influence.

Copycat Theory:

The copycat theory relates to something which is publicised in the media that creates a lot of attention, resulting in others to imitate or ‘copy’ the same action in order to gain the same attention. The well-known cases of this are copycat murders, suicides and other violent acts that come with no motive other than attention. 

An example of this is 12 girls getting pregnant in the same time period at St Andrews RC School. The staff had blamed movies such as Juno for 'glamourising' teen pregnancy. 

Desensitisation:

Desensitisation is the theory of media audiences’ reactions growing weaker according to the level/amount of exposure to violence, death and sex. There’s a decrease in fear and sensitivity to extremely aggressive behaviour and taboo subjects, and possible introduction to everyday life.

An example of this is in 1999 – two senior students embarked on a massacre, killing 12 students and 1 teacher. The shootings resulted in moral panic aimed at Goth culture, social outcasts, gun culture, violent films and music, teenage internet use and violent video games.