The Uses and Gratifications theory proposes that people actively seek out media and content to fulfill personal needs and desires. It focuses on why audiences use media rather than how media affects people. The theory views audiences as active, choosing media based on interests, background, and preferences to fulfill needs like information, entertainment, social interaction, and identity formation. Criticisms of the theory include that gratifications may be dependent on researcher input rather than subjects, different age groups have varying motivations, and self-reported data used in studies can be unreliable.

1. Theory:
Uses and Gratification
Theorists:
There had been many stages of the theory as it has been developed over time. In 1944
Herta Hertzog interviewed people who listened to soap operas and determined that they
sought three different types of gratification from this form of entertainment. These three
types of gratification were emotional, wishful thinking, and learning.
Elihu Katz was the founder of Uses and Gratification theory, he came up with the notion
that people use the media to their benefit. In the early 1970’s Katz and his two colleagues,
Jay Blumler and Michael Gurevitch continued to expand the idea.
What is the theory?
This theory isn’t about how the media affects a person or audience the theory seeks out
why people use the media, how they use it and what they use it for. The Uses and
Gratifications suggests that people’s needs influence what media they would choose, how
they use certain media and what gratifications the media give them. In contrast to
traditional media theories which focus on “what media do to people” uses and
gratifications approach is more concerned with “what people do with media” It allows
audiences personal needs to use media and responds to the media, which determined by
interest, likes and background. McQuail in 1987 created four sections as why people might
use the media. For information, personal identity, Integration, social interaction and
entertainment. Uses the media for information includes finding out about relevant events,
seeking advice, satisfying curiosity and learning more. Personal identity includes finding
reinforcement for personal values, finding models of behavior and identifying with valued
other. Integration and Social Interaction includes gaining insight into circumstances of
others, gaining a sense of belonging and finding a basis for conversation and social
interaction. Using the media for entertainment is to relax and escape from the real life or
problems, also people use to gain enjoyment and to have fun.
Does this theory see the audience as active or passive? Why do you think this?
This theory was contemporary because it contradicted older views that assumed the
audience was a passive group. The Uses and Gratifications theory views the audience as
active, meaning that they actively seek out specific media and content to achieve certain
results or gratifications that satisfy their personal needs. This is an active audience as they
use their own preferences to use the media rather than be influenced by it to do
something, they have control. In my opinion this theory has an active audience as this
theory is about why the audience chose to use the media in the first place form the 4
categories’ therefore it is the audience choice as to why they go on the media from their
personal experience, likes and dislikes.
What are the criticisms of this theory?
The theory has had criticism for not having the standards for be a real theory. Criticisms
include the fact that gratifications are more dependent on researchers input than on the
subjects, also that audiences of different ages will have different motivations for watching
the same media, and that much of the information collected in studies is self-reported
making it more difficult to measure as self-reports are based on personal memory which
can be problematic because the respondents might inaccurately recall how they behave in
media use and thus distortion might occur in the study.
Apply the theory:
An example of this theory can be used when watching movies and listening to the music as
you use your own choices. People choose from their own choices and moods to decide
what to watch or listen to. For example, some people might watch the news to gather

2. information a certain topic and find out about relevant events happening around the
world, some people would watch the news for entertainment as there are interested in the
stories and it brings them enjoyment, some would watch for integration and social
interaction as they can gain insight into circumstances of others and some would watch for
personal identify to try find were the belong and identifying with valued other in the
media. There are lots of different needs that can be fulfilled by once piece of media.