Beyond the Active-Passive Controversy in the Media Audience Studies : Limit of Dichotomy

Abstract

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, it has been discussed over and over again whether the media audience is active or passive. However, because of this dichotomy, the audience is sometimes described in extreme active or extreme passive terms. First, this study examines the diversity and dynamism of the active audience within the normative framework. Second, the diversity and dyna mism of the concept of audience activity is also examined from the results of both quantitative and qualitative research. I conclude that in order to overcome the limits of dichotomy, it is necessary to understand the multi-dimensional structure of audience activity.