Lecture 9: Agenda Setting

An individual's conception of reality is socially constructed through a process of communication using shared language. Reality exists, but the way we come to know it, talk about it, understand it, is mediated through social life. The media play a large role in "constructing" or "mediating" the social world as we understand it.

The four agendas

1. PUBLIC AGENDA -the set of topis that members of the public perceive as important.
2. POLICY AGENDA -issues that decision makers think are salient. (i.e. legislators)
3. CORPORATE AGENDA -issues that big business & corporations consider important.
4. MEDIA AGENDA -issues discussed in the media.

These four agendas are interrelated.


Agenda setting is the process of the mass media presenting certain issues frequently and prominentlywith 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.

The Mass media do not merely reflect and report reality, they filter and shape it. Media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues.

Two main types of Agenda Setting Theory

First Level Agenda Setting Theory: This is for the most part studied by researchers and emphasizes the major issues and "the transfer of the salience of those issues." At this level the media suggest what the public should focus on through coverage.

Second Level Agenda Setting Theory: This is essentially, how the media focuses on the attributes of the issues. The media suggests how people should think about an issue.

Strengths of the Agenda Setting Theory

1. It has explanatory power because it explains why most people prioritize the same issues as important.
2. It has predictive power because it predicts that if people are exposed to the same media, they will feel the same issues are important.
3. It can be proven false. If people aren’t exposed to the same media, they won’t feel the same issues are important.
4. Its meta-theoretical assumptions are balanced on the scientific side.
5. It lays groundwork for further research.
6. It has organising power because it helps organiseexisting knowledge of media effects.

Weakness of the Agenda Setting Theory

1. Media users may not be as ideal as the theory assumes. People may not be well-informed, deeply engaged in public affairs, thoughtful and skeptical. Instead, they pay casual and intermittent attention to public affairs, often ignorant of the details.
2. For people who have made up their minds, the effect is weakened.
3. News cannot create and conceal problems. The effect can merely alter the awareness, priorities and salience people attach to a set of problems.
4. NEW MEDIA is a whole new ballgame in terms of Agenda setting