The topic
of this lecture is Agenda Setting. So the definition of Agenda Setting is “Agenda setting is the process of the mass media presenting certain
issues frequently and prominently with the result that large segments of the
public come to perceive those issues as more important than others. Simply put, the more coverage an issue
receives, the more important it is to people.”(Coleman, McCombs, Shaw, Weaver, 2008) Agenda
Setting is a theory which is able to affect people’s judgment of big events. There
are four agendas which are interrelated.
1) PUBLIC AGENDA - the set of topis that
members of the public perceive as important.
2) POLICY AGENDA - issues that decision makers
think are salient. (i.e. legislators)
3) CORPORATE AGENDA - issues that big business
& corporations consider important.
4) MEDIA AGENDA - issues discussed in the
media.
The under image shows prominently about agenda
building. From this image we can easily understand what the reality works in
different areas, the real reality, media reality and public perception of
reality. We can also feel that media does filter and shape the way of audience
thinking.
.
Agenda comes from the Presidential campaign in
Chapel, 1968. From Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw’s 100 surveys, it showed
that the mass media have large influence on audiences by
their choice of what stories to consider newsworthy and how much prominence and
space to give them. Hill North Carolina.Lippmann argued that people rely on the
images in their minds in formulating judgments rather than by critically
thinking. He advised, "Yet in truly effective thinking the prime
necessity is to liquidate judgments, regain an innocent eye, disentangle feelings,
be curious and open-hearted." This is really good statement for
journalists and artists. After read this statement, people will be leaded back to
have “an innocent eye”.
There are two main types of Agenda Setting Theory. The first level is media
suggestions of what the public
should focus on through coverage. The second level is media suggests of how people should think about an
issue.
Here are some quotes:
Ø “The press may not be successful much of the
time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in
telling its readers what to think about” (Bernard Cohen,1963)
Ø “Agenda setting is not always the diabolical
plan by journalists to control the minds of the public but ‘an inadvertent
by-product of the necessity to focus’ the news”
(McCombs
2004)
Ø “The real mass media are basically trying to divert people. Let them do
something else, but don’t bother us (us being the people who run the show). …Let
everybody be crazed about professional sports or sex scandals or the
personalities and their problems or something like that. Anything, as long as
it isn’t serious. Of course, the serious stuff is for the big guys.
"We" take care of that.” Noam
Chomsky
The Agenda Setting
‘Family’ :
- Media Gatekeeping
- Media Advocacy
- Agenda Cutting
- Agenda Surfing
- The diffusion of News
- Portrayal of an Issue
- Media Dependence
Strengths of Agenda
Setting Theory:
• It has explanatory power because it explains why most people prioritize
the same issues as important.
• It has predictive power because it predicts that if people are exposed to
the same media, they will feel the same issues are important.
• It has organising power because it helps organise existing knowledge of
media effects.
• It can be proven false. If people aren’t exposed to the same media, they
won’t feel the same issues are important.
• Its meta-theoretical assumptions are balanced on the scientific side.
• It lays groundwork for further research.
Weaknesses of Agenda Setting Theory :
• Media users may not be as ideal as the theory assumes. People may not be
well-informed, deeply engaged in public affairs, thoughtful and skeptical.
Instead, they pay casual and intermittent attention to public affairs, often
ignorant of the details.
• For people who have made up their minds, the effect is weakened.
• News cannot create and conceal problems. The effect can merely alter the
awareness, priorities and salience people attach to a set of problems.
• NEW MEDIA is a whole new ballgame in terms of Agenda setting
The example of Agenda Setting: the earthquack of Sichuan province,China.
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