Agenda Setting theory

Theory
The influence of media affects the presentation of the reports and issues made in the
news that affects the public mind. The news reports make it in a way that when a
particular news report is given importance and attention than other news the
audience will automatically perceive it as the most important news and information
are given to them. The priorities of which news comes first and then the next are set
by the media according to how people think and how much influence will it have
among the audience.
Maxwell Mc Comb and Donald Shaw
• They investigated the agenda-setting function of the mass media in the 1969

presidential campaign

• To get information about the relationship between what voters in one community said

were important issues and the actual content of media messages during the actual campaign

• Mass media (with the agenda-setting function) had a huge influence on what voters

during the campaign considered to be the major issues

• This study began the agenda-setting theory and is now why we study it today.
The Two Levels of Agenda Setting
Level 1
Agenda setting is used by people who are studying or researchers who do thesis on different aspects of
media and the influence in the audience and by the audience. This helps future media persons to study and
explore how media has an influence on a group or on individuals.

Level 2

The Level 2 people are the people who seriously experiment with Agenda-setting. They focus on how their
information should influence their set of audiences. This is where sensationalization plays its part, showing
that the media has the power to spread the right information at the right time and also divert people
according to their needs.
Framing
Framing includes the various contexts in which different media companies show a
particular story. Factors like target audience, values and ethical standards can create
this differentiation in news reportage. Framing also discusses the manner in which
the audience interprets the news. The framing of particular stories can serve as a
reference and result in the public forming general opinions about what they read or
watch in news reports. For instance, if a certain fruit or vegetable gets continually
associated with stronger teeth, people may start making that connection on their
own, even if the research makes a different claim.
Priming

Priming happens in agenda-setting when media companies prioritise specific issues

over other news items. This might influence the audience's perception of the report
by artificially increasing its urgency. Newspapers may do this by publishing such
news on the front page, and television channels may accomplish this by discussing it
repeatedly in different news bulletins and programmes. This can give the reader or
viewer a feeling that the specific event is more important than others. For example, if
media companies cover a politician's upcoming rally extensively, people might think
it is an important event to attend.
Focussing on the violent aspects of a political protest, rather than the arguments
behind why the protest is taking place

Charlie Brooker does a great job of analysing how this occurred during the G20
protests in London 2009 – the television crews DID NOT cover the political
speeches that took place during the day, they just waited around until some violence
did (finally, it was rare!) kick off later in the day, and then it was the violence that
became headline news
Benefits Of Agenda-Setting

Here are some prominent advantages of agenda-setting:

● Generates awareness: Agenda-setting can be beneficial as it highlights
important societal issues by actively discussing them. The recurrence of specific
news raises awareness among people about the issue and how to solve it.
● Helps create a structured discussion: Agenda-setting provides a well-defined
framework for the discussion around a piece of information. This helps create a
nuanced debate covering all relevant aspects that highlight the pros and cons.
● Assesses the prevailing sentiment: Agenda-setting can be beneficial in gauging
the widespread opinions among the masses. Understanding the public views can
help media and other businesses operate favourably with the public's opinion
and increase their profitability.
Drawbacks Of Agenda-Setting

● Can lead to media bias and distortion of news: Media agencies often decide what news stories to
report and how to report them to influence people. When they influence the reportage as per their
belief systems, it can result in bias and lead to distortion of factual and accurate news.
● May not influence the people who have a specific mindset: Agenda-setting may not influence people
with a predetermined notion about a particular issue, even if the media objectively explains the
challenges associated with it. So, agenda-setting might not always positively influence the thought
process of people.
● May miss out on important information: By choosing to focus only on specific news stories, the
media may inadvertently or consciously suppress information that may be beneficial to the public.
For instance, focusing on political developments or sporting events instead of promoting a
limited-time social security scheme that can benefit people.
● Can be difficult to measure its impact: Agenda setting commonly influences the mindset of people
by influencing their thought processes. The degree to which they can effectively influence people's
thinking capabilities is unknown, making it difficult to measure the effects and results accurately.