NDM: The key concepts of audience and institution

Media Magazine 52 has a good feature on the changing relationship between audiences and institutions in the digital age. Today you need to go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM52 and scroll to page 9. Read the article and complete the following tasks:

1) What was the relationship between audience and institution in the pre-digital age?

- In the last century, media products were produced by economically powerful organisations which packaged and sold them to carefully defined audiences. In the pre-digital era, audiences were seen to have less freedom and choice in how and when they would be able to access media products. There is a power relationship between the audiences and institutions from which the institutions had the most power in the pre-digital era, being able to control the audience through their media. 

2) The article gives a lot of examples of major media institutions. Choose three examples from the article and summarise what the writer is saying about each of them.

- BBC: is funded by a licencing fee.

- ITV: the income comes from advertisers. Institutions appeal to much bigger audiences.

- Sky One Income is generated by subscription fees and advertising revenue.

3) The article ends with a section on the digital age. Summarise this section in 50 words.

- In the digital era, the balance of power between the institutions and audiences has shifted. Audiences now have more freedom to access media products when they choose, rather than when they are told. Audiences from the modern generation are now able to communicate directly with institutions, and are also able to construct their own media products for themselves.

4) How do YOU see the relationship between audience and institution in the future? Will audiences gain increasing power or will the major global media institutions hold sway?

I believe that in the future the relationship between audience and institutions would continue to change and the audiences would have the most power. Institution's economic success will become even more dependent on the behaviour and preferences of the audiences as they would become reliant on them to make their money.