AUDIENCE - GERBNER

 Evaluate the effectiveness of Gerbner’s cultivation theory in understanding how audiences interpret newspapers, including how they may interpret the same newspapers in different ways:

Gerbner theorises that the media can influence audience perceptions of the world over a long period of time through the repetition of similar messages. He found that people who watched a lot of television were likely to have a more negative view of the world, which he called mean world syndrome and that long term and consistent TV viewing lead to the homogenisation of social and political views, which he called ‘mainstreaming’.

Gerbner’s interest in the attitudinal effects of violent representations suggests that newspapers which value ‘bad’ news are possibly creating the belief in the audience that the world is a dangerous place (‘mean world syndrome’) characterised by negative events; audiences who have a broader media consumption may not feel the same way as those whose primary source is a particular newspaper whilst those who only read one newspaper might perceive the world differently to audiences which read more than one. Galtung and Ruge point out that negativity may be the most significant of all news values; if it bleeds it leads. The Daily Mail is known for its negativity around  a range of topics, from immigration, to lawlessness on UK streets; in 2018, it’s June 8^th cover depicted a machete wielding man and a headline that read “CHILLING REALITY OF WILD WEST UK.” Given that the Daily Mail has the highest circulation of any UK newspaper, we can see the validity of applying Gerbner’s theory to their perpetuation of mean world syndrome through their lurid depiction of violence. The Guardian have a reputation for sober reporting that avoids sensationalism. We might therefore expect their content to contradict Gerbner, but for the past two years their website has included a substantial info hub dedicated to live updates of the war in Ukraine, which suggests that Gerbner’s mean world syndrome may be relevant across even the most socio-politically different publications and perhaps that even those that read more than one paper will not be able to escape its influence. 

Gerbner argues that consistent media messaging leads to mainstreaming of opinions. However, newspaper messages are likely to be contradicted by messages from politically and socially opposing newspapers (e.g. The Guardian and the Mail), especially in areas of social or political conflict, like the reporting of Brexit.  On November 4th 2016, the covers of The Guardian and The Mail took a very different approach to the reporting of the high court ruling prior to the triggering of article 50. The Mail branded the judges “ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE,” while the The Guardian headline acknowledged the difficulty that the ruling posed for the prime minister while remaining politically neutral. We might argue that these contradictory messages invalidate Gerbner’s idea of mainstreaming; however, it is unlikely that ideologically different audiences are going to read (and thus respond differently to) different newspapers. That said, this infamous Daily Mail cover is referenced by a range of Guardian articles since the publication of the newspaper, all of which encourage their readers to engage with Daily Mail content. This may be because Guardian readers tend to be more educated and liberal in their world view. It may therefore be reasonable to suggest that Gerbner’s theory is less applicable to more educated, liberal readers.