An audience member might construct their own identities through articles in the ‘community’ category. These articles include people who are not in the spotlight and the audience can feel closer to them. For example, the article on the teacher coming out to their students and the article on the bank worker coming out in his workplace. These types of articles can help an audience member construct their own identity as they may be in the same situation as these people. They can see their opinions on the matter and gain more confidence in doing the same in their own workplace.
The Lloyds bank worker ‘Anthony’ says he did not want to seem like he was lying all this time. This is something their LGBTQ+ audience will relate closely to. The teacher talks about how the children are fine with it. This is showing the audience that a lot of people will be accepting and that educating children leads to more equality as they take this information into adulthood. He says some children challenge other students who make gay jokes – the audience will feel happy to hear this. An audience member may pick and mix ideas from these articles because they admire the confidence of the people in the articles. Also, they may not share the exact same struggles – Anthony had worries about how his ’big black father’ would react to his coming out. Not everyone is going to be worried about this, but they may identify with feeling like they are lying to people around them.
The ideologies of Attitude include the fight against homophobia and the struggle for equality. They have many articles on the struggles gay people face and contrastingly the steps in the right direction for equality. This suggests they find it important to cover all aspects of the gay community and allow their audience to come together and find out what is happening as many mainstream media outlets may not cover it.
Additionally, they have a focus on LGBTQ+ celebrities and other celebrities who are associated in some way with the community. This shows how they find popular culture important, so they want to incorporate it into their gay magazine – the focus on LGBTQ+ celebrities set them apart from the mainstream magazine. David Gauntlett would say that as these celebrities share the same ideologies as the audience members, they may see them as role models. The article of Rupert Everett saying it’s ‘not right’ that only gay actors play gay roles may shape the audience’s experiences with TV shows and gay representation. They may take from this that gay actors are only offered gay roles and are restricted in that sense.
Their social media platforms are used for reposting links to their articles. However, these platforms allow the audience to interact with each other and have some debates on the content of the article. Their audience does not actively comment on every post, but some articles have led to audience members feeling passionate about their opinions. For example, the article on the UK’s first LGBTQ retirement home led to audience members having contrasting ideas on the impact this has. Some thought this is a nice idea for elderly people to feel safe and comfortable with people who understand them. Others thought this is ‘segregating off gay and trans people like we used to 100 years ago’. The magazine does not interact personally with the audience members, but their use of social media encourages interaction among readers.
The magazine relies on three main social media – Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The magazine is relying on the audience being active on these sites to improve interactions. Clay Shirky would say that they are encouraging people to click and read the articles in order to share their viewpoints. The audience will feel fulfilled and included when leaving comments on the posts. They can engage with like-minded people who can challenge them and make them think twice about their opinions on a topic. Their self-perception can change as they see how they have misunderstood things or taken too harsh of a viewpoint.
One ideology that the magazine supports is that the community is important. They have a tab dedicated to the community which reinforces the importance of it. As they are targeting a niche audience, it is of significance that they show that the value of coming together. Attitude has created an online community of thousands of followers on social media. They can interact and share opinions with people who understand them.
The audience may have existing ideologies which are reinforced by the magazine. For example, they cover stories on the co-vid vaccine. They make specific references to NHS England – who have made the co-vid vaccine for accessible to people living with HIV. Their positive viewpoint of the NHS is hegemonic as most of the country respect the NHS and appreciate their work. Gerbner would say that the consistent positive coverage of the NHS contributes to how highly people regard the workers.
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