The document discusses two models of how audiences interact with media - the passive audience model, where audiences unquestioningly accept the preferred meaning of media messages, viewing audiences as weak and the media as powerful; and the active audience model, where audiences independently question and form their own opinions of media content, as developed by Katz, Lazarsfeld, and Stuart Hall.

2. THE AUDIENCE ACCEPTS AND BELIEVES ALL
MESSAGES IN ANY MEDIA TEXT THAT THEY RECEIVE.
THIS IS THE PASSIVE AUDIENCE MODEL. THEY
ACCEPT THE PREFERRED READING AND DON'T
QUESTION IT. IN THIS MODEL THE MEDIA IS SEEN AS
POWERFUL AND ABLE TO INJECT IDEAS INTO AN
AUDIENCE WHO ARE SEEN AS WEAK AND PASSIVE.
HOWEVER, AN
ACTIVE AUDIENCE QUESTIONS WHAT
THEY SEE AND INDEPENDENTLY
FORM THEIR OWN OPINIONS –
DEVELOPED BY KATZ AND
LAZARSFELD AND STUART HALL.