Main/key uses of media
- Information (self- education, finding events, general interest)
- Personal Identity (finding models of behaviour, gaining an insight into one's self)
- Social Interaction (gaining a sense of belonging, social empathy, finding conversation)
- Entertainment (filling time, sexual arousal, free tension)
Blumler and katz
- Reasearch began in 1940's
- Says that the media user seeks a source that meets both the wants and needs of the user
- the choices people makes are motivated by the desire to satisfy a range of needs
Audience Relating to Uses and Gratifications Theory
criticism
What it is??
- Media producers have no responsibility for the effect their media has- That is dependent on the audience type
- The way people use particular media
("What people do with media" rather than "what media does with people")
- the theory doesn't account for socio-cultural context of media, instead applying a media to a specific person, ignoring "trends"
