Chapter 28 Agenda-Setting Theory Griffin, E. (2006). A first look at communication theory (6th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Agenda-Setting Theory McCombs & Shaw, 1972 Summary The media tells us what to think about Recently, agenda-setting claims the media also tell us what to think, and what to do about it www.tenbyten.org/now.html McCombs & Shaw, 1972 Summary—an objective theory, agenda-setting argues that the media tells us what to think about. Recent revisions also argue that the media tell us what to think, and what to do about it. www.tenbyten.org/now.html ...monitors many news outlets, and puts up the pictures (so we can see what’s important today, or at least what the media thinks is important… but McCombs and Shaw would argue these are the same thing)

First Level Agenda-Setting Original version of the theory Media tells us what to think about Media agenda  public agenda Initial study on 1968 presidential election (Chapel Hill, NC) Contrasts with prevailing selective exposure hypothesis The media tells us what to think about (original version of the theory) Makes certain issues salient, or prominent in our minds The media’s agenda precedes the public agenda Initial study… examined what the media and public thought were the most important issues surrounding the 1968 presidential election Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey Examined media outlets in Chapel Hill, NC (two Raleigh papers, two Durham papers, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, CBS evening news, NBC evening news) Surveyed public opinions For each, rank-ordered 5 most important issues… nearly identical between media and public Later studies supported the notion that the media agenda came first, and predicted the public agenda Traditionally, research suggested that media is a weak influence in our lives… selective exposure—we only attend to information that doesn’t threaten our established beliefs

First Level, cont’d Who sets the agenda for the agenda setters? News editors as “gatekeepers” http://www.freepress.net/content/ownership Political candidates Public relations professionals Interest groups News events themselves How do newscasters decide what news to broadcast/publish? *handful of editors (associated press, new york times, washington post, time, newsweek, abc, nbc, cbs)… the media monitors each other *political candidates (by choosing which issues to bring up) *public relations professionals (newspapers get a lot of what they print from news releases) *interest groups *news events—sometimes news events are so big that they cannot help but make it to the news (e.g., 9-11)

Second Level Agenda-Setting Revised version of the theory Media tell us how and what to think about it Framing– “to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communication text” (p. 402) The media tells us what to think (revised and existing version) Framing—“to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communication text” (p. 402) Promotes a particular way to think about the story Think about most of the news stories you see, especially the ones that persisted over time i.e., presidential elections seen as races i.e., war on iraq seen as “operation Iraqi freedom” We cannot avoid framing… the facts have to be told in some way. But these frames, especially when told over time, can have a profound effect on how we view an event

Second Level, cont’d Media may also tell us what to do about It Currently being researched Sometimes they tell us what to do or suggest what to do The media tells us what to do about it? Sometimes they outright tell us what to do Or for example, after Sept. 11 the news coverage of airport safety (i.e., sending in people with weapons and seeing if they are discovered) may have led to a decline in air travel

Who is Most Affected by Media’s Agenda? Need for orientation Relevance Uncertainty Who is most affected/influenced by the media’s agenda? People with a high need for orientation… they consume media in order to orient themselves to what’s happening in the world Relevance—when the issue is relevant to you (i.e., hurricanes in Florida and Will’s grandparents have a house there) Uncertainty—we don’t have a strong opinion about the issue and/or we don’t have information about it Ex: one night driving home from school, I was driving through a nasty storm, listening to the radio Listening for information about the weather… High relevance b/c driving through it High uncertainty b/c didn’t know what traffic was like and if I was going to get into a tornado

Effects of Newer Media May lessen the agenda-setting effects of the media More content choice More control over content Certain people only receive certain types of news ( I go to Google for my news)

Critique More realistic, limited effects model than the hypodermic needle model Gives more power to the media than selective exposure hypothesis Findings are not always consistent Controversy over framing Critique More realistic model of media effects than the old “hypodermic needle view” or selective exposure hypothesis “…the media agenda affects the salience of some issues for some people some of the time” (p. 405) Controversy over framing Whether it even belongs in agenda-setting research The definition of framing The amount of power framing has