Agenda Setting Theory - Introduction
Introduction
Agenda Setting Theory is first developed by Professor Maxwell McCombs and Professor Donald Shaw in their Chapel Hill study in 1968. The agenda setting theory is separate into three parts which is media agenda, public agenda and policy agenda. Agenda setting theory is defined as the power of news media whereby mass media set an agenda which will influences the public which is called as public agenda by highlighting the issue frequently in media. Therefore the main effect of media in agenda setting is telling people not what to think, but what to think of. The policy agenda is the issues that policy makers consider important after the public start to make campaign or petition to show protest against the organizations.
Mass Communication plays an important role in our society its purpose is to inform the public about current and past events. Mass communication is defined in “Mass Media, Mass Culture” as the process whereby professional communicators use technological devices to share messages over great distances to influence large audiences. Within this process the media, which can be a newspaper, a book and television, takes control of the information we see or hear. The media then uses gate keeping and agenda setting to “control our access to news, information, and entertainment” (Wilson 14). Gate keeping is a series of checkpoints that the news has to go through before it gets to the public. Through this process many people have to decide whether or not the news is to be seen or heard. Some gatekeepers might include reporters, writers, and editors. After gate keeping comes agenda setting.
Elaboration of the Theory
The Agenda-Setting Theory says the media (mainly the news media) aren’t always successful at telling us what to think, but they are quite successful at telling us what to think about. The power of news media is to set a nation’s agenda, to focus public attention on a few key public issues, is an immense and well-documented influence.
Agenda Setting Theory is first developed by Professor Maxwell McCombs and Professor Donald Shaw in their Chapel Hill study in 1968. The agenda setting theory is separate into three parts which is media agenda, public agenda and policy agenda. Agenda setting theory is defined as the power of news media whereby mass media set an agenda which will influences the public which is called as public agenda by highlighting the issue frequently in media. Therefore the main effect of media in agenda setting is telling people not what to think, but what to think of. The policy agenda is the issues that policy makers consider important after the public start to make campaign or petition to show protest against the organizations.
Mass Communication plays an important role in our society its purpose is to inform the public about current and past events. Mass communication is defined in “Mass Media, Mass Culture” as the process whereby professional communicators use technological devices to share messages over great distances to influence large audiences. Within this process the media, which can be a newspaper, a book and television, takes control of the information we see or hear. The media then uses gate keeping and agenda setting to “control our access to news, information, and entertainment” (Wilson 14). Gate keeping is a series of checkpoints that the news has to go through before it gets to the public. Through this process many people have to decide whether or not the news is to be seen or heard. Some gatekeepers might include reporters, writers, and editors. After gate keeping comes agenda setting.
Elaboration of the Theory
The Agenda-Setting Theory says the media (mainly the news media) aren’t always successful at telling us what to think, but they are quite successful at telling us what to think about. The power of news media is to set a nation’s agenda, to focus public attention on a few key public issues, is an immense and well-documented influence.
References: Agenda-Setting Theory – Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw(n.d.). Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http://www.ninosoriadeveyra.com/uploads/3/0/1/1/3011660/agenda-setting_ Garson, G. D. (2006). Agenda setting theory. Retrieved July 30, 2010, from http://faculty.chass. July 30, 2010 from http://www.infoamerica.org/documentos_pdf/mccombs01.pdf