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

2. 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
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.
...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)

3. 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

4. First Level, cont’d Who sets the agenda for the agenda setters?
News editors as “gatekeepers”
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)

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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)

9. 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