An audience is formed when more than one person is together in one place at a time. In the year of 2020, a year of many difficulties and triumphs the one that is the most notable to me would be the November Election. Sitting on the couch while writing out notes for my HSC exams and subjects and in the background I was listening to polls, statistics and Stan Grant’s voice 24/7. The panic and excitement, waiting to see if we would begin to watch a dystopian future where the United States would experience the downfall of their democracy or watch it be restored.
In 1967, audiences were watching the first man to land on the moon. In a small quiet room with your mum, dad and brothers eyes glued to the television set. However, now in 2021 we are either used to watching tv in our own rooms on a laptop or even iPhone or if we are sitting by the television we’re sitting in a large room and are also usually preoccupied with other devices. In November 2020, we were all glued to our television sets once again. As the fear and anticipation that came as a side effect of this latest election.
The fear that many were experiencing wasn’t just fear of being peddled by the candidates, especially Donald Trump. But there was also a fear that the media was also trying to influence the outcome of the elections for their own political purposes. Trump supporters were fearful of traditional news media peddling ‘fake news’, while Trump opponents feared foreign influence and QAnon conspiracy theories running rampant on social media.
This seems to be exactly what the media effects model would tell us to believe, that audiences are passive receivers of the messages that the media distribute. Although they usually point out to the effect on children and young adults, never the sensible adults who eagerly agree with the model's conclusions. But as David Gauntlett points out in his paper “10 Things Wrong with the Media Effects Model” you can’t just assume this cause and effect without looking at other causes and providing evidence that these other factors aren’t the real cause. In his paper he describes how the Media Effects Model over looks causes for crime and violence such as socioeconomic factors (poverty, unemployment, housing) and the behaviour of family and peers.
So we should apply the same standard to voters in America and not just assume that the media is having the effect of tricking voters into voting for something or someone that they normally wouldn’t. There are always other factors at play, such as the global economic crisis. This economic crisis had a massive effect in America, much more so that in Australia, and the American public suffered it’s after effects for much longer. Maybe this is the cause that needs to be examined more closely than just the effect of ‘fake news’ or ‘social media’.
David Gauntlett (2005), "Ten Things Wrong with the Media 'Effects' Model"
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