Audience Survey Conducted on “Dewel” Radio ... - FES Ethiopia

Some of the criticisms focus on the methodologies employed such as the
‘structured’ interviews which prohibited the audience to freely interpret media
messages and that people are considered as simply there to consume the media
without having any individual needs. In addition to this, such researches were
criticized for being ‘media centric’.
Gauntlett (1998), argues that the reasons why the ‘effects’ study couldn’t come up
with clear answer on media effects are, first, the approach gives much emphasis on
media rather than the audience. In addition to this, while discussing audiences’
relationship to media; it focuses on individuals rather than the society. As a result,
issues related to social problems are merely ignored.
On ‘effects’ research, various arguments emerged on what the media do to the
audience. For example, the ‘uses and gratification’ approach, studied why people
use media. This approach is said to be dominant in ‘effect’ tradition.
2.3 Uses and gratification
Previous research on early effects theory assumed audience members to be
‘passive’ and ‘reactive’ to the direct influence of media which could bring
immediate and measurable changes in attitudes and behaviors (Atkin & Wallack,
1990). This model was brought into question with the emergence of another
approach, which emphasized on the selection of media content by the audience
members. This approach, called the ‘uses and gratification’ model diverted the
understanding of audience from passive to active, who look for content, ranked in
terms of importance according to the needs and interests of the individual. Thus,
the more the content meets the actual need of the audience, the greater the chance
that it will be chosen (Windahl & Signitzer, 1992). The principal elements of uses
and gratification include motives and needs of people to communicate, the social
and psychological environment, communication behavior and the consequences of
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