Agenda Setting

   I don't really know what I think of when I hear the words "agenda setting". Honestly, I get flashbacks to grade four when my teacher would always say, "so what's on the agenda today?" But that's what week 11's lecture was on. And on a side note, I must say I absolutely loved this clip that Bruce showed at the start of the lecture. It's so true!

But back to agenda setting. What is it? Agenda setting is a theory, but like all good, solid theories, it's all a bit obvious really! As quoted by the highly influencial and well known Sir Bruce Redman. Nothing like a good sucking up to lecturers ;) And if you're in need of a more academic definition, here's one by Coleman, McCombs, Shaw and Weaver: "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." But anyway, so within agenda setting, there are four interrelated agendas: 

Public Agenda: what the public perceive as important.

Policy Agenda: issues that decision makers deem as salient.

Corporate Agenda: issues that big businesses/corporations think are important.

Media Agenda: issues that are discussed in the media.

There are also two basic assumptions of media agenda setting. The first of which is that the mass media does not merely reflect and report reality, they filter and shape it. And let's be honest, this is  true. There is a lot of news out there. So many events happen everyday throughout the world and the media filters through heaps and heaps of stories and events in order to narrow it down to the most important and interesting  ones. The mass media also shapes the way we see news. Different media outlets will always have different perspectives on different events. The second assumption is that media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important that other issues. 

So where did agenda setting come from, I hear you ask? Well for now I'm going to focus on Walter Lippman. Good old Walter. So in the early 20's Lippman was a newspaper columnist and in his book "Public Opinion" he stated that "the mass media creates images of events in our minds." And I find this to be pretty accurate. For example, the 9/11 attacks. When we think of this story, pretty much all of us will associate it with a photograph similar to this: 

Even as I googled "September 11 attacks", almost all the pictures I saw were like that. And I know you're all thinking, "Well obviously. There couldn't be any other photos we associate with 9/11 because that picture is of what happened." But you sir, are wrong! These images were provided to us by the media. We could have associated the attacks with a photo of terrified people running down the street. Or of firefighters rushing to the scene. But we don't. We immediately think of the two buildings alight with fire. We rely on these images in order to formulate judgments instead of thinking critically about the matter.

Old Walter boy also brings to attention the use of propaganda. And I can't help but have another flashback to year nine humanities and learning about how Hitler used propaganda. But let's not get into that. As Lippman stated, "Propaganda is used as a tool to help shape images in the minds of human beings in support of an enterprise, idea or group."

So basically, agenda setting is not necessarily about telling readers what to think but rather, telling readers what to think about. And like many of us, agenda setting also has a cute little family:

Media Gatekeeping: how individuals control the flow of messages through a communication channel. Basically how much exposure an issue gets and what the media chooses to reveal to the public.

Media Advocacy: the purposeful promotion of a message through the media - all the good messages like anti-smoking. Don't want our toes falling off now do we? DON'T SMOKE!

Agenda Cutting: stories that are reported over others. But seriously gaiz, who wouldn't want 2 no about da Beebz' nu haircut?! Belieber 4 lyf. But really, the stories that are covered less are basically cared about less.

Agenda Surfing: the 'bandwagon' effect. How the media follows trends. For example KONY. See my first post. I was successfully sucked in.

The diffusion of news: the process of how an important event is communicated to the public. (ie. how, where and when will it be released?)

Portrayal of an issue: the way an issue is portrayed by the media influences how the public perceives it.

Media Dependence: the more dependent you are on the media for information, the more susceptible you are to agenda setting. Suckers!

Media dependence is kind of worrying though. With information being so accessible these days that we can get what we want with the touch of a button, (or an iPhone screen), will we all just fall victims to the mighty and ever-powerful media? Let's hope not. I do like everything being accessible though ;)