Newspapers-Audience

Stuart Hall - Reception Theory

Another of Stuart hall's theories is the Reception theory. It asserts that media texts are encoded with messages and values by the produces which are decoded by the audience. Different audience members will decode the media in different ways and possibly not the way the producer originally intended. 

The theory states that the members of the audience will adopt one of three positions when decoding the text:

Dominant or Preferred reading - How the produces of the text want the audience to decode/view said text. They will assert thus position if the messages are clear to them; they can follow the narrative; they can recognise age and culture cues and the themes shown are relevant to said audience.

Oppositional Reading - When the audience reject the Producers intended message and create their own meaning of the text. This can occur when the text deals with controversial themes that the audience has an opposite view upon. It may also occur when members of the audience are unable to receive age and culture appropriate cues which leads them to decode the text in a different way to the intended way.

Negotiated Reading - When the audience compromise between dominant and oppositional reading; the audience will decode some of the messages in the intended way and then others unintentionally. This could occur when the audience understand the age and culture cues but the narrative is to complex which inhibits a misunderstanding.