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Agenda Setting Theory

Agenda Setting Theory. Debbie Hilton and Alyce Miele. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ve1_MEMWcA. History of Agenda Setting Theory: Lippmann 1922 . The idea of Agenda Setting began in 1922 with Walter Lippmann’s Public Opinion book.

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Agenda Setting Theory

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  1. Agenda Setting Theory • Debbie Hilton and Alyce Miele

  2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ve1_MEMWcA

  3. History of Agenda Setting Theory: Lippmann 1922 • The idea of Agenda Setting began in 1922 with Walter Lippmann’s Public Opinion book. • In it, he stated that our perception of reality was skewed. • The media’s portrayal of current events was only that of the media’s; viewers do not experience these events first hand. • Therefore their own opinions originate more from the opinions of the news source.

  4. McCombs and Shaw: Agenda Setting Case Study • They did this by measuring the position and space given in the paper, or if it was on broadcast how long it was broadcast. • The results were staggering: The study correlated almost perfectly. The importance of issues to the public had a +.967 statistical correspondent value to the issues that were prioritized in the news. • The case study’s findings clearly supported the Agenda Setting theory: important topics in the news become important to the public, because it is featured by news media.

  5. McCombs and Shaw: Agenda Setting Case Study (Cont.) • In 1968 Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw conducted a research study to test the effects of media on the publics opinions. • Using the 1968 Presidential Election • They asked participants what they were most concerned about. • Main topics included: foreign policy, law and order, fiscal policy, public welfare, and civil rights. • After finding these main topics they researched local Chapel Hill, NC media to see what their priority issues during the campaign were.

  6. Agenda Setting: The Beginning • Stories that are deemed newsworthy become popular as public opinion. • “Media’s priorities often become the priorities of the public and policy makers” (Salwen & Stacks,p.90) • Influencing the importance of certain political and social issues through the media is considered Agenda Setting.

  7. Five Aspects of Agenda Setting • Basic agenda setting effects • Contingent conditions for those effects • Attribute agenda setting • Origins of the media agenda • Consequences of the Agenda-Setting process for people’s opinions, attitudes, and behavior. • Source: (Salwen & Stacks,p.90)

  8. How does it work? • New York Times coverage study- (Winter and Eyal,1981) 4-6 weeks Agenda Setting • Michael Salwen (1988), Longitudinal study: television news reporting on environment then 5-7 weeks later Agenda Setting occurs: public agenda reflection (Salwen and Stacks, p.93) • Normal agenda setting effect is 1-2 months • Media impact has its limits: Monica Lewinsky and Former President Bill Clinton. • Media was centered around Monica. But the public still had a poor opinion of Clinton’s job performance.

  9. How does it work? Psychology of Agenda Setting • Individuals who have a greater need for orientation are more susceptible to Agenda Setting effects. • Orientation is defined as the curiosity or need to know what is going on in the world around you as well as a “desire to become familiar with that world” (Salwen & Stacks, p. 93). • Becoming oriented means gathering information about the world around is. This may happen by watching, reading, or listening to the news.

  10. Need for Orientation:

  11. Agenda Setting Effects • In theoretical terms things that define an agenda are “objects” (Salwen and Stacks,p.94) • Objects can be public issues, officials, organizations, countries, or anything that warrants attention from media and public. • Two levels of Agenda Setting: • Transmission of Object Salience • Transmission of Attribute Salience

  12. Comedy and Agenda Setting • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pB_CNBL8xA

  13. Agenda Setting and Framing • framing-The basis of framing theory is that the media focuses attention on certain events and then places them within a field of meaning • agenda setting-states that news media has a large influence on audiences, in terms of what stories to consider newsworthy and how much prominence and space to give them • ex: Matthew Nisbet and Mike Huge’s (2006) study of the framing of the plant biotechnology debate in the mass media

  14. Who Sets the Media Agenda? • the pattern of news coverage that defines the media’s agenda results from 3 key elements: • 1. exchanges with sources that provide information for news stories • 2. the daily interactions among news organizations themselves • 3. journalism’s norms and traditions

  15. Politics and the Agenda-Setting Theory • policy agenda setting-the process by which governments make decisions about which social issues will be the focus of their attention and actions • Stefaan Walgrave and Peter Van Aelst (2006) integrated model on how the mass media is able to focus political attention: • 8 variables: issue type, media outlet, coverage type, electoral or nonelectoral context, existing institutional rules, internal decision-making practices of political actors, the government-opposition configuration and the personal traits of political actors

  16. Consequences of Agenda Setting for Attitudes and Behaviors • 3 distinct consequences of agenda setting effects • 1. forming opinions • 2. priming opinions through an emphasis on particular issues • 3. shaping an opinion through an emphasis on particular attributes 16

  17. Conducting Agenda-Setting Research • one shot designs, longitudinal designs, trend studies • Type I (Competition perspective) • Type II (Automaton perspective) • Type III (Natural history perspective) • Type IV (Cognitive portrait)

  18. New Arenas for Research • one rapidly expanding research area is the business news agenda and its impact on corporate reputations and economic outcomes ranging from profits to stock prices • the internet

  19. #1: Citizen Journalism, Agenda-Setting and the 2008 Presidential Election • Kristen A. Johnson at WJMCR 28, 2011 • Conducted to study to look at intermedia agenda setting. • Intermedia Agenda Setting happens when one media outlet influences another media outlets stories. • She found that during the 2008 election story topics posted on CNN’s I-report positively correlated with story topics that CNN featured. • Negative press about John McCain, Sarah Palin, and Barak Obama was also explored. • The findings concluded that negative press surrounding candidates was fairly equal on both I-report and CNN. • McCain receiving the most, then Palin, then Obama.

  20. Intermedia Agenda Setting • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJIGQyF2Yjo

  21. #2: Agenda Setting for the Civil Rights Issue • James P. Winter and Chaim H. Eyal, 1981 • Research concluded that the New York Times front page is a “national media indicator” (p. 381, Public Opinion Quarterly Vol. 45, 1981) • The research also concluded that for civil rights topics only agenda setting occurs four to six weeks after the topic is featured in the paper. • Study authors say that “recent media” leads to public salience, or public intake of the information (i.e. recent information, that which occurs 4-6 weeks ago, is more likely to set an agenda.

  22. #3: Agenda Setting, Public Opinion, and the Issue of Immigration Reform • H1: As media coverage of immigration increases, the public will be more likely to rank immigration as an MIP • H2: Local media in border states consistently offer more news coverage of immigration than local media in non-border states • H3: Non-border respondents will be less likely than border respondents to rank immigration, as an MIP, unless the media is giving the matter heightened attention nationwide

  23. Casey Anthony Project • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYBcFWpT_f4

  24. Nancy Grace/Casey Anthony Project • Casey Anthony: Media Agenda Setting • How would you spin the media? • Set the agenda the other way, make Casey seem not guilty. • Research the case and the details. • As a class, put yourself in a Public Relations job and as Casey Anthony’s personal attorney. How would you portray Casey Anthony as NOT GUILTY! (use agenda-setting theory) • Have fun!

  25. Let’s Discuss ! 

  26. References • Brown, B. (2008). Jon Stewart: The Daily Show, The Agenda Setting Theory. Retrieved from www.voices yahoo.com/jon-stewart • Dunaway, J., Branton, R. P. and Abrajano, M. A. (2010), Agenda Setting, Public Opinion, and the Issue of Immigration Reform. Social Science Quarterly, 91: 359–378 • Johnson, K. (2011). Citizen Journalism, Agenda-Setting and the 2008 Presidential Election. The Web Journal of Mass Communication. • Winter, J. P., & Eyal, C. H. (1981). Agenda Setting for the Civil Right Issue. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 45(3), 376. Retrieved from http://poq.oupjournals.org/cgi/doi/10.1086/2686

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