Agenda Setting Theory. Summary

Agenda Setting Theory I. The original docket not what to think, barely what to think about. A. Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw adherence Watergate (American political scandal 1970s. It ended in President Nixon resigning from office) as a perfect example of the agenda-setting constituent of the mass media. B. They believe that the mass media have the susceptibility to transfer the salience (importance) of items on their news agendas to the public agenda. II. A theory whose prison term had come. A. Agenda-setting theory contrasted with the prevailing selective exposure hypothesis, reaffirming the great power of the press speckle maintaining individual freedom.Agenda-setting theory set to prove that we dont have as much control over our beliefs as we would like to think. (selective exposure says batch know what they are interested in, and what they believe/find important. They choose to expose themselves to media sources that provide them with information that matches their in terests and confirms their existing beliefs) B. The hypothesis predicts a cause-and-effect dealinghip between media capacitance and voter perception, particularly a match between the medias agenda and the publics agenda later on. causal relationships are different than correlational relationships note how the findings change between studies). III. Media agenda and public agenda a close match. A. In their groundbreaking study, McCombs and Shaw first measured the media agenda. B. They established the position and distance of story as the primary criteria of prominence (i. e. where it was in paper front page and how long of an article it was more writing equals more important (discourse makes meaning)) C. The remain stories were divided into five major issues and ranked in order of importance. D.Rankings provided by uncommitted voters (uncommitted = undecided these are people who have not made up their minds yet) matched closely with the medias agenda. IV. What causes what? A. McCombs and Shaw believe that the hypothesized agenda-setting function of the media causes the correlation between the media and public ordering of priorities. B. However, correlation does not prove causation. 1. A true test of the agenda-setting function must show that public priorities lag behind the media agenda. (this would prove that one comes before another and is the cause of the other) 2.McCombs and three other researchers demonstrated a time lag between media coverage and the public agenda during the 1976 presidential campaign. C. To examine whether the media agenda and the public agenda might just reflect current events (reality), shine Funkhouser documented a situation in which there was a strong relationship between media and public agendas. The twin agendas did not merely mirror reality, but Funkhouser failed to establish a chain of influence from the media to the public. (this was the Vietnam War example) D.Shanto Iyengar, Mark Peters, and Donald Kinders experimental study confirmed a cause-and-effect relationship between the medias agenda and the publics agenda. V. Who sets the agenda for the agenda setters? A. Some scholars target major news editors or gatekeepers. B. Others point to politicians and their spin-doctors. C. Current thinking focuses on public relations professionals. D. Interest aggregations are becoming extremely important. VI. Who is most affected by the media agenda? A. Those susceptible have a high need for orientation or index of curiosity. B.Need for orientation arises from high relevance and uncertainty. VII. Framing transferring the salience of attributes. A. Throughout the last decade, McCombs has emphasized that the media influence the way we think. B. This process is called framing. 1. A media frame is the fundamental organizing idea for news content that supplies a context and suggests what the issue is through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration. 2. This description suggests that media not only set an agenda but as well as transfer the salience of specific attributes to issues, events, or candidates. C. There are two levels of agenda setting. . The transfer of salience of an attitude object in the mass medias pictures of the world to a prominent place among the pictures in our heads. (what to think about) 2. The transfer of salience of a bundle of attributes the media associate with an attitude object to the specific features of the part in our minds. (how to think about it) VIII. Not just what to think about, but how to think about it. A. Two national election studies suggest that framing whole kit by altering pictures in the minds of people and, through the construction of an agenda with a cluster of related attributes, creating a coherent image.B. Salma Ghanems study of Texans bring in the second level of agenda setting and suggested that attribute frames have a compelling effect on the public. C. Framing is inevitable. D. McCombs and Shaw now contend that the media may not only tell us what to think about, they also may tell us who and what to think about it, and perhaps even what to do about it. IX. beyond opinion the behavioral effect of the medias agenda. A. Some findings suggest that media priorities affect peoples behavior. B. Nowhere is the behavioral effect of the media agenda more sheer than in the business of professional sports. C.McCombs claims Agenda setting the theory can also be agenda setting the business plan. D. Will new media save to guide focus, opinions, and behavior? 1. The power of agenda setting that McCombs and Shaw describe may be on the wane. 2. The media may not have as much power to transfer the salience of issues or attributes as it does now as a result of users expanded content choices and control over exposure. X. Critique are the effectuate too limited, the scope too wide? A. McCombs has considered agenda setting a theory of limited media effects. B. Framing reopens the possibility of a powerful effects model.C. Gerald Kosicki questions whether framing is relevant to agenda-setting research. 1. McCombs restricted definition of framing doesnt address the mood of emotional connotations of a media story or presentational factors. 2. Although it has a straightforward definition within agenda-setting theory, the popularity of framing as a construct in media studies has led to diverse and perhaps contradictory uses of the term. D. Agenda-setting research shows that print and broadcast news prioritize issues. E. Agenda-setting theory reminds us that the news is stories that require interpretation.