AUDIENCE - BANDURA

Evaluate the usefulness of Bandura in understanding audience use of online newspapers such as The Guardian and MailOnline.

Bandura theorises that human values and behaviours are influenced by media modelling, especially related to media violence causing imitation. He points out that social networks are influential. While this may be exacerbated by the internet, ‘new media’ may also offer opportunities for self-directedness.

A potential weakness of Bandura’s work when analysing online news is that his focus was on TV consumers. However, it does allow us to explore the influence of consistent messaging across online news. For example, the mediation of the War in Ukraine has been condemnatory across both The Guardian and MailOnline. Links to social media also demonstrate the influence of social networks, with many people virtue signalling by posting support for Ukraine in their twitter bio or Facebook profile. 

Another significant weakness of Bandura may be the focus on violence and aggression. Bandura maintained that repeated viewing of aggressive behaviour presented in a sensationalised way led to a modelling effect. We could apply this to online news sources because they tend to be more intense in their depiction of violence (due to the use of embedded video) and more engrossing (with live updates etc.) than print news. However, representations of violence in online news are unlikely to produce imitative behaviour; both The Guardian online and MailOnline consistently represent violence as negative. Moreover, both publications have social media links clearly advertised and we might expect this to lead to greater diversity of opinion and opportunities for self-directed construction of values and opinions. 

Another potential weakness is that it might make us prioritise the influence of online news on the values of the audience and underestimate the reverse. The Guardian’s online content seems to mirror the focus on journalistic integrity and political neutrality that is present in the print publication, though there may be more diversity of opinion (like contradictory views on Corbyn during Brexit). So, we could argue that it seeks to inform rather than influence and to remain faithful to this mission regardless of audience opinion. However, the MailOnline is quite different to its print counterpart, with greater emphasis on soft news and less right-wing messaging. This is likely because the MailOnline is catering to a different audience. The interactive nature of online news means that papers can very closely track the interest by measuring clicks, and future content is then shaped by audience interest.

390 WORDS – UP TO THIS POINT, THE ESSAY SHOULD RECEIVE    8/10

In the wake of Leveson’s 2011/12 inquiry into the News of the World phone hacking scandal, many political figures, including both David Cameron and Ed Miliband, expressed concern about the potential for public harm due to the lack of regulation of the press. Online news seems to be even more prone to the forces that shaped this scandal; the need for immediacy and ‘click bait’ pushing journalists to seek out and write about lurid stories that will capture audience attention. In this context, Bandura’s theory may support critics who argue that the general lack of regulation of internet news is problematic, especially in the cultural context of fake news and the near impossible task of policing all comments on news websites. The Guardian online seems to have managed this more successfully, by maintaining the journalistic integrity that underpins its print content, while The MailOnline is arguably even more sensationalist. 

550 WORDS - UP TO THIS POINT, THE ESSAY SHOULD RECEIVE    9 or 10/10