This week’s Lectorial focused on institutions and their place within wider society. We discussed different institutions, why they were defined as such and their categorisation within these definitions. Media institutions are described as being ‘enduring’, collectivist, regulate and structure activities, and audiences are aware of their status as an institution (Branston and Stafford, 1999, ‘The Media Student’s Book’). It was interesting to consider how audiences came to be aware of company’s statuses as institutions, and why this was, and how institutions interact with their audiences (mode of address). It can be difficult to determine whether an institution has been recognised as such by an audience due to the ambivalent nature of anything which must be collectively socially agreed upon (such as authenticity in music, etc.) – nothing is ever unanimous – however with some of the largest institutions such as Facebook, HBO, ABC, etc, it can be a bit easier. People as a general rule know that these places are well established and large, and a majority of the people that one would ask would be able to identify them as institutions, or as figureheads of the media industry. It would be interesting to explore more how media institutions interact with audiences, both the literal parties (institutions, and an audience), and the topics/theories in more general terms.