%0 Journal Article %1 mcquail_media_2013 %A McQuail, Denis %D 2013 %J The Communication Review %K audience-research intellectual internalist mass-communication media-history %N 1-2 %P 9--20 %R 10.1080/10714421.2013.757170 %T The Media Audience: A Brief BiographyStages of Growth or Paradigm Change? %V 16 %X The concept of audience was widely adapted from its earlier origins in public spectacles and performance to apply to the new circumstances of mass media reception in the early 20th century, and especially to the public for film and broadcasting. It could even be applied more generally to include print media. The then novel usage of the term was a component in the larger paradigm of mass communications that in turn rested on certain preconceptions about its ?mass? character. These preconceptions have been challenged by subsequent research and theory. More recently, however, the ongoing transformation of the means of communication may have rendered the whole mass communication paradigm itself obsolescent, and with it the concept of a mass audience. In this article it is argued that paradigmatic change in ideas about the audience may be less due to a shift in technology than to the more fundamental theoretical changes of the intervening period.

@article{mcquail_media_2013, abstract = {The concept of audience was widely adapted from its earlier origins in public spectacles and performance to apply to the new circumstances of mass media reception in the early 20th century, and especially to the public for film and broadcasting. It could even be applied more generally to include print media. The then novel usage of the term was a component in the larger paradigm of mass communications that in turn rested on certain preconceptions about its ?mass? character. These preconceptions have been challenged by subsequent research and theory. More recently, however, the ongoing transformation of the means of communication may have rendered the whole mass communication paradigm itself obsolescent, and with it the concept of a mass audience. In this article it is argued that paradigmatic change in ideas about the audience may be less due to a shift in technology than to the more fundamental theoretical changes of the intervening period.}, added-at = {2019-08-29T01:56:31.000+0200}, author = {McQuail, Denis}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2b6b6b5a851b33080a932be0fc6558428/jpooley}, doi = {10.1080/10714421.2013.757170}, interhash = {3158849459bafc322bf25090d00bb260}, intrahash = {b6b6b5a851b33080a932be0fc6558428}, journal = {The Communication Review}, keywords = {audience-research intellectual internalist mass-communication media-history}, number = {1-2}, pages = {9--20}, timestamp = {2019-08-29T01:56:31.000+0200}, title = {The {{Media Audience}}: {{A Brief Biography}}\textemdash{{Stages}} of {{Growth}} or {{Paradigm Change}}?}, volume = 16, year = 2013 }