Active VS Passive Audience Theory

Active audience theory argues that media audiences do not just receive information passively but are actively engaged, in making sense of their personal and social contexts. No media product is produced without a thought dedicated to the audience that is going to see read or hear it. Therefore the concept of audience is at the heart of all media.

Active:                                                                                            

- Engaged                                                                                                           

- Involved                                                                                                           

- Responsive                                                                                                                                              - In control                                                                                                        

- Free willed 

Passive: 

- Easily manipulated 

- Compliant 

- Weak willed 

- Followers 

- Controlled 

- Dominated 

Uses and Gratification Model 

This suggests that what people do with the media is administered by what they need from the media and the assumption within this model is that individuals are active participants in the mass communication process. People are seen to be able to select and reject aspects of media volume in line with individual requirements. 

The thinking behind this theory is that it focuses on the long term effects of particular ideological representations on our beliefs and values. For example, media representations of attractive women have been influential in giving both genders and idealised perception of a woman and what she should look like.