Uses And Gratifications Theory Analysis

Media is a platform that serves to be the medium between the consumer and producers of media output. In a democratic country, the media is often the medium between citizen and government. Ideally the media is supposed to facilitate communication, government transparency and act as a voice to the people. Media essentially always has a purpose of which it fulfils to its audience. The purpose differs and is relative to the consumers’ needs and use of the media. The media serves a certain purpose in the article. With the use of the Uses and Gratifications theory this essay will explore and analyse the media’s role in within the context of the article, whose needs the media satisfy. Whether the media played in favour of government interest or gave a voice to the people of South Africa. This piece will also aim to place into context the media’s role leading up to the article’s occurrences.

The Uses and Gratifications Theory emerged as a theory that focused on redefining media as having a main purpose of which it serves to its audience. It saw the shift in the effects of media, to what the audience does with media output and for what reasons. The audience began to be seen as having more control and choice over the content in which they choose to consume. Rather than earlier portrayals of audiences as passive, brain washed victims of media.Klapper
527). Furthermore The Uses and Gratifications Theory categorized media as having different purposes it serves to consumers and different needs or gratifications of which the audience tries to fulfil through the use of media.Blumler (1979) categorized these by“identified three primary social origins of media gratifications: normative influences, socially distributed life changes, and the subjective reactionof the individual to the social