ABSTRACT
Choice and use of media products are influenced by a number of factors. Most of the theoretical approaches in the study of media use and media product selection have sought explanations in particular human characteristics-people’s motives (Rubin, 2002), moods (Zillmann, 2004), personality (Burst, 1999), attitudes (Doll & Hasebrink, 1989), etc. These approaches all assume, whether implicitly or explicitly, that the user is an active user. Other approaches focus on the conditions surrounding the use: the structure of the media market, the situation in which it is used or the personal restrictions affecting the user (Webster & Wakshlag, 1983). This second set of factors raises questions as to how active, or consciously selective, the user is and, at least, reveals the limitations under which the user operates. If in the supermarket, for example, Shoppers’ Radio is broadcasting news, music and commercials, it can hardly be said that the user of the medium has made an active choice. In the case of the user taking his or her remote control and rifling through all the channels, the companion on the sofa can hardly be designated an active selector of her or his own television viewing. There are many such situations in which programs or products are used without having been actively selected. And there are even more situations in which, indeed, there is selection, but the choice is from a very restricted range. Again, there are many examples: in the case of television, since many programs are not broadcast or are incapable of being broadcast on cable TV, the choice of program is automatically limited. In the newspaper field, the reading of news items will be predetermined by the newspaper a household has subscribed to. It is impossible, or largely so, to attribute the act of choice simply to the user’s preferences (Webster & Wakshlag, 1983). On close scrutiny, the situations where choice is exercised prove that no media selection takes place without any restrictions whatever, for it is only possible to select that which has already been produced (McQuail, 1997). It is thus necessary to keep within reason the notion of a media user with fully autonomous freedom of choice. The factors contingent to the situation on the one hand, and the social context on the other, reveal the limits set, as do
the historical factors and social conditions including the structure of the media market (Wolling, Quandt, & Wimmer, 2008; Schweiger, 2007).
