Agenda Setting
Agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media and the ability to tell us what issues are important. In 1922, the newspaper columnist Walter Lippman felt concerned about the media and the power media had to present images to the public. This goes as far back as 1922 and we still see if today in our current society.
In 1968 a research was done and they found two elements, awareness and information. The information that they gathered from the research was that McCombs and Shaw’s presidential campaign was mainly focused was to attempt to assess the relationship between what voters in one community said were important issues and the actual content of the media messages used during the campaign.
Agenda-setting is the creation of public awareness and concern of salient issues by the news media. Most research of agenda-setting have underlining of two basic assumptions: 1.) The press and media do not reflect reality; they filter and shape it. 2.) media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues. Mass communication plays a big role in agenda setting.
The premises of agenda-setting is Media do not tell us what to think, but rather what to think about. For example, In political campaigns, the media may not be effective in swaying public support toward or against a particular issue or candidate. But by continually raising particular questions and issues, or simply by showing an interest in a particular political candidate or issue, the media can lead the discussion toward or away from issues important to the candidate and even to the public.
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