What does the Uses and Gratifications approach propose about audiences?

• A. Audiences are passive recipients.
• B. Regulation determines content.
• C. Audiences use media actively to satisfy needs such as surveillance and social integration.
• D. Media shapes reality unilaterally.

Answer: (C)

Audiences are active in choosing and using media to meet specific needs. Uses and Gratifications treats people as purposeful consumers who select programs, platforms, or genres to satisfy concrete wants—like gathering information about the world (surveillance) or maintaining connections with others (social integration). Because the focus is on why people use media and what they gain from it, responses vary with individual goals and contexts, not with a one-way message being imposed.

That’s why the statement describing audiences as actively using media to satisfy needs such as surveillance and social integration fits best. Options that claim audiences are passive, that content is dictated by regulation, or that media shapes reality in a one-sided way don’t align with this view.