How Media May Have Deterred Some of its Users after the BP Oil Spill

                As discussed in the previous blog, the media not only portrayed the oil spill in a negative manner (although the spill was an admittedly horrific accident), but it also portrayed all the cities and towns nearby, affected or not, negatively. It is very likely that the people living in these cities that were being labeled as toxic or contaminated also had access to this media and saw, heard, or read what the media was saying about them. On one hand, some of these people may have stopped returning to these different types of media who were down talking their cities. On the other hand, some may have returned to media sources to find out more information about how the oil spill is being repaired or how much oil has spilled out. This choosing to or not too return to different sources of media based on a specific outcome expectation is part of the social learning theory.

                The social learning theory, in relation to media, states that our expectations of the media are said to form around outcomes of behavior rather than the gratification of needs. It was first theorized by Albert Bandura, shown below:

                So, if someone from the Panhandle reads a newspaper, say the FSView, and sees an article about how the Gulf Coast is still a beautiful place to vacation and experience a feeling of joy, chances are they will pick up that newspaper again expecting to read something that will give them the same feeling. Similarly, if someone who works for BP were to turn on the television to Fox News Network and see the anchors showing photos of the oil spill and blaming the entire company for the accident, then that person is less likely to watch that channel again because they expect to see something that turns them off.

                This happened a lot when the oil spill first happened. People who were planning on vacationing to the Gulf Coast watched certain news channels, like http://www.cnn.com/, or frequently visited certain websites such as, http://abcnews.go.com/, because they knew they would be able to find the information they needed therefore receiving a feeling of joy. The same could be said for those who watched networks who still supported tourism along the Gulf Coast.  Also, people who are eco friendly and want to switch to alternative sources of energy were also pleased when they turned on the television or went online and saw that offshore drilling was being postponed and possibly made illegal. The social learning theory is the explanation why they kept returning to these websites and news channels.