What does the uses-and-gratifications approach emphasize about audience behavior?

• A. Audiences passively receive messages and are shaped by them.
• B. Audiences actively seek media to satisfy needs such as information, personal identity, entertainment, normalization.
• C. Media content determines behavior without audience choice.
• D. Gratifications are universal and identical across all users.

Answer: (D)

Uses-and-gratifications emphasizes that audiences are active, goal-oriented agents who choose media to satisfy specific needs. People pick programs and platforms based on what they want to achieve—gaining information, shaping their personal identity, seeking entertainment, or looking for social connection and normalization. Because the focus is on individual goals and contexts, different people seek different gratifications, and the same content can serve multiple purposes. This approach rejects the idea that gratifications are universal across all users, and it moves away from viewing audiences as passively shaped by media.