AGENDA SETTING THEORY

Agenda Setting Theory



Agenda Setting Theory

Agenda Setting Theory

Agenda setting is a theory of mass communication effects which holds that news media, through the editorial selection process, transmit to the public the salience of political objects, which affects the relative importance of these objects to the public. According to agenda-setting theory, the news media may not tell the public what to think (for example, what position to take on a political issue or what candidate to support in an election), but they tell the public what to think about (for example, what issues are important or what candidates are viable). (McCombs, 2004)

One of the primary services the news media provide to their audiences is their surveillance of the environment to determine what events are occurring in the world that the press believes their audiences should know. Journalists use professional norms called news values, such as proximity, timeliness, conflict, celebrity and human interest, to decide what is newsworthy. News media also prioritize the news, such as giving a banner headline on the newspaper's front page or the lead position on a newscast to signal importance. Agenda-setting theory conceptualizes this ordering of political objects by the news media as the “media agenda.” The news media's selection and presentation of news provides an indexing function that helps readers decide where to place their attention. Through this exercise of editorial judgment, newspapers and newscasts make political objects stand out in relief from others. The media agenda directs the public's attention to certain political objects. In this way, the news media change the salience of political issues, persons, or topics. News media tell the public what is important. Agenda-setting theory conceptualizes this ordering of political objects by the public as the “public agenda.” Agenda-setting theory holds that as the media agenda changes, the public agenda follows. The news media set the public agenda. (Lippmann, 1922)

How Agenda Setting Works

Agenda setting involves exposure of individual persons to a news media agenda, and individuals do differ both in how frequently they are exposed to news media and in the quality of their attention. However, agenda setting theory views the news media agenda as essentially ubiquitous, evident to all adult society members. Through something like a two-step flow from opinion leaders to opinion followers, the news media agenda permeates society. Agenda setting occurs because essentially the same stimulus, in a variety of mass communication channels, is distributed to a massive number of individual persons. As a consequence of the high penetration and saturation rates of newspapers, television news, radio news, and other mainstream news media, many different individuals share a similar experience. Despite individual differences, agenda setting occurs because the news media carry highly similar messages to so many individuals. (McQuail, 2000)

Measuring Agendas

One reason agenda-setting theory attracts scholars is that it makes an explicit connection between specific media content and a specific effect on those exposed to that content. Researchers have become adept at measuring both the media agenda and the public agenda, and showing the relationship ...