Uses and Gratifications Theory vs. Agenda-setting Hypothesis

A valuable aspect of PR practitioners is the skill in persuading publics. Two communication theories that support this statement include the Uses and Gratifications Theory and the Agenda- Setting Hypothesis. These two communications theories are tied closely together. To explain how, I will first explain the theories.

Uses and Gratifications Theory:

• the audience chooses which messages will be received and acted upon
• the audience also has an influence on the media
• grants power to the individual audience members

An example: A person watching television may choose to watch the commercials or choose to change the channel.

Agenda Setting Hypothesis:

• the media does not tell people what to think, but tells them what to think about (meaning that the media doesn’t try to persuade its audiences to think one way or another)

An example: News channels often have the same top stories

The difference between the two are that uses and gratification theory focuses on the connection between an individual and the message while the agenda setting hypothesis focuses on the media's influence of the message to the audience.

The relationship between the two models goes back to the audience. The agenda-setting hypothesis states that media gives the audience the most important information, or top stories, and the uses and gratification theory states the audience's action to keep or pass through the message. Through the agenda setting hypothesis, media outlets showing the same stories hand feeds the audience the messages that the uses and gratification theory states. Therefore, these two theories are directly related in that they intertwine with each other.

PR practitioners play key roles in these theories. With the uses and gratification theory, PR practitioners give information, or messages, to the media through the publics. In the agenda setting hypothesis, the role of PR practitioners is in the background, or behind the media. Otherwise, PR practitioners give information to the media and the media gives the messages to the public.