Stuart Hall proposed the idea that as an audience we must decode messages that the media have encoded us to hear and see.
Hall was concerned by just how powerful the media is and believed that the media can effectively dictate what should be issues of public concern and interest through audience positioning. Hall was a Marxist theorist and was concerned with how the media appear to reflect the reality around us whilst ultimately they construct what we deem to be reality.
Hall identified three types of reading:
Dominant Reading -
When the reader fully accepts the media put in front of them and interprets it in the exact way that the author of the text intended them to. An example of this is within a news report being shown the information (which could potentially be biased if coming from one viewpoint) and accepting every detail of the report, not questioning the text in any way.
The Negotiated Reading -
This type of reading is when the audience believe the information partially but believe that certain parts of the text are inaccurate or biased. At this point in viewing the media text they would consult other articles or pieces in order to justify their own uncertainty of the original piece. They may modify the intended message so it reflects their own position and beliefs on the issue.
The Oppositional Reading -
The readers social position and moral values influence their belief of the content and causes them to disregard the information and reject the reading.
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