Fiske ve Hartley'in Televizyon Teorisi

Abstract The first serious and holistic theory on television after the 1950s, by the time television has began to occupy an efficient position in the whole social life and to dictate itself as an indispensable part of everyday life, was developed by McLuhan in 1960s. McLuhan, who became famous with his slogan “the medium is the message”, developed his theory by focusing particularly upon the logic of the technical perception and technological function of the medium of television. Nevertheless, McLuhan's theory on television was criticized to be lacking in a thematic analysis that is to be made from the aspects of social and cultural values. In this respect, Raymond Williams attempted to make up for that deficiency in 1970s with his theoretical approaches suggesting that not only the techniques of narration but also the contents of programs might exert influences on the social perception and could transform values. On the other hand, what makes Fiske and Hartley noteworthy is the fact that they contributed to the aforesaid theoretical accumulation in 1980s with new approaches within the frame of the qualitative content analysis and also, especially, within the frame of semiology. Particularly, although Fiske's theory on television exposed a patched structure composed of Marxism, semiotics, post-structuralism and ethnography, it failed to introduce any serious approach as regards to the aesthetic language or cultural effect of the image on television.