Lecture 9

Agenda Setting: how the media constructs reality


The Construction of Reality

An indivdual's conception of reality is socially constructed through a process of communication. Reality does exist, but the way we come to know it, talk about it and understand it is mediated through social life.

This means that media outlets are able to influence society's conception of reality. So how do they use this influence, and how does it tie into the concept of an 'agenda'?


The Four Agendas

1. Public Agenda
• the set of topics that members of the public perceive as important
2. Policy Agenda
• issues that decision makers think are salient
3. Corporate Agenda
• issues that big businesses and corporations consider important
4. Media Agenda
• issues discussed in the media

Media Agenda - a definition of agenda setting

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

In contemplating this defintion, it made me think how much influence the media actually has upon what I, both as an individual and a member of the public, consider newsworthy. Is it actually that the media is responsiveness to what society regards as important, as we would like to believe, or is the influence of the media so ingrained that it blinds us to issues that are more deserving of our attention? As much as I would like to think I am critically evaluative of the issues presented in the media, its ubiquitous nature makes it hard to remove oneself far enough to objectively consider each issues true worth.

Agenda Setting: A Model

Two basic assumptions of media agenda setting are -

1. the mass media do not merely report reality, they filter and shape it
2. media concetration on a few issues leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than others

Where did they idea of 'agenda setting' originate?

1920s - Harold Lasswell

'the mass media injects direct influence into the audience'

1922 - Walter Lippman

'the mass media creates images of events in our minds'

1968 - Maxwell Combs and Donald Shaw

'the mass media sets the agenda by emphasising specific topics'

There are two main types of agenda setting -

1. first level agenda setting theory
• the media suggests what the public should focus on through what they cover
2. second level agenda setting theory
• the media suggests how the public should think about an issue

'the press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about'

Bernard Cohen, 1963

So is agenda setting good or  bad?

'agenda setting is not always the diabolical plan by journalists to control the minds of the public but an inadvertent by-product of the necessity to focus the news'
McCombs 2004

VS

 'the real mass media are basically trying to divert people... let everybody be crazed about professional sports or sex scandals... Anything as long as it isn't serious of course, the serious stuff is for the big guys. 'We' take care of that'

Noam Chomsky

The Agenda Setting 'Family'

I found this section of the lecture particularly fascinating, as I'd never previously thought about, in any real depth, the number of everyday decisions the media makes, the number of conscious and subconcious decisions the public makes, as well as all of the routine steps in between an event's occurence and the public's formation of opinion on that event, and then subsequently, their formation of opinion on the media itself. Looking at the agenda setting 'family' made me realise just how interconnected each facet of the 'family' is, in that each one is extremely important, both individually and as part of the family, in making the current media industry what it is.

1. Media Gatekeeping
• the exposure of an issue
• what the media chooses to reveal to the public
2. Media Advocacy
• the purposive promotion of a message through the media
3. Agenda Cutting
• the majority of reality is not represented by the media
• some issues do not get represented, and are therefore cared about less
4. Agenda Surfing
• the media follows trends
• 'surfing' the waves of topics originally mentioned by opinion-leading media
• exsiting public opinions influences others towards that opinion
5. The Diffusion of News
• process through which an event is communicated to the public
• how, where and when news is released
• who is responsible for these decisions?
6. Portrayal of an Issue
• the way an issue is portrayed influences the public's perception
• a variety of media outlets and portrayals enables the public to formulate various opinions
7. Media Dependence 
• the more dependent a person is on the media for information, the more susceptible that person is to media agenda setting

What are the strengths of the agenda setting theory?

• explanatory power
• can explain why people share beliefs on what issues are the most importnat
• predictive power
• can predict that if people are exposed to the same media, they will feel the same issues are important

These were the two strenghts of agenda setting that I regarded as the most pertinent, as I think they identify the link between the media and the homogenisation of society, in particular Western society where the meida is most pervasive.

What are the weaknesses?

• news cannot solely create and conceal problems
•  it merely alters awareness, priorities and slaience people attach to specific issues
• ineffective upon those with preconceived opinions
• 'new media' does not necessarily conform to the old conception of agenda setting

So, to reflect, it is apparent that agenda setting is inevitable and ubiquitous in the media. The public must therefore be continually aware of whether that agenda is an innocent by-product of a media outlet's routine evaluation of which news items are interesting and necessary, or whether that agenda is purely representing the media's self interest, or something even more covert.