This week’s reading, ‘The People Formally Known as the Audience’ written by Jay Rosen, discusses media’s advancement, and the way audiences have recently become active due to a societal change. So who are audiences? Rosen states that “the people formerly known as the audience are those who were on the receiving end of a media system that ran one way, in a broadcasting pattern, with high entry fees and a few firms competing to speak very loudly while the rest of the population listened in isolation from one another”.
Throughout the article, Rosen argues how audiences are no longer being controlled, as there is a ‘new balance of power.’, with new technology, specifically social media mediums like blogs, podcasts etc. The audience have a vital part in domineering and reacting to the media content. As this article was posted in 2006, before social media was a thing, the use of smartphones to communicate through facebook, twitter and Instagram have increased in the past few years, raising the level of active use by the audience. As much has changed since 10 years ago, Rosen’s article is still relevant as audiences still continue to interact through media, and has actually increased since this time.
Comparing audiences from the past, who were on the ‘receiving end’ of interpretations, in relation to today, where audiences are more connected, aware and knowledgeable members ‘want control over their media, instead of being controlled by it.’ Which has ultimately shifted overtime. Power is engrained in the audiences, as they want to be involved and sometimes produce their own media. Rosen definitely was able to show a massive change of perspective in audiences, from becoming passive, shifting to active in such a fast time.
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