Introduction
Mass-media has a lot of influence on the audience in terms of the daily information for discussion. People talk about topics in the newspapers or in the radios. This is the basis for the agenda setting theory, brought forward by 1972 by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw1. The mass-media determines the information that is prioritized by the public, therefore directing their interests towards a particular media.
The audience depends on the keenness given to various thoughts, concerns or matters by the media that make the topic more or less important. The media makes use of this aspect to raise the awareness of the public on relevant matters. This theory helps to explain what is regarded as vital by the people, as well as determines the key issues as seen by the public, based on the media that they are exposed to2.
The role of the media is to report and the people then form their opinions based on the information provided. The agenda setting theory is both advantageous and disadvantageous. The merit is that it provides people with information, while the demerit is that this information is biased. The bias is because the media chooses for the people what is more vital, based on the prominence of the reports.
The agenda setting function was observed to have a variety of components including: media agenda, which are the means of relaying information such as newspapers and the television; public agenda, which are issues considered by the public to be important and therefore raising discussions; policy agenda, which are the matters that are regarded as vital by policy makers such as the legislators; and corporate agenda, which are the matters regarded as vital by big businesses.
The agenda setting effect is observed to be predictable, based on the characteristics of the media, the problems and the people3.
Impact of the media on the public policy process
The first step in influencing an audience is getting their attention on a particular issue. The media does this by increasing the prominence of a particular topic on their reports. The media also affects the understanding of the issues presented, and creates a viewpoint in the audience, which contributes to the public opinion.
Every issue is observed to have many objects, which in turn have attributes. The emphasis of the media on various attributes is what determines the public perception and attention on a particular issue.
In the analysis conducted by McComb and Shaw during the 1968 presidential campaign, they observed the various issues raised by various media, and studied the responses provided by the candidates with regard to those issues4.
The forms of media used in the study included the television and print media. The attention given by the media via the television was based on the time spent on reporting the issue, as well as the position of the story, in terms of leading. The priority of issues in the newspapers and magazines were based on the space allocated, as well as the position of the story.
The issues raised in the media were observed to be key campaign topics for the various candidates, which led the public to judge the candidates based on their responses to those issues. This was an indicator of the influence of the media on the decisions made by the audience.
This gave the media a lot of power in terms of how they portrayed the candidates, based on how they tackled these issues, which were now the focus of the nation. This was observed to be the epitome of political power, since politicians can observe trends in the media and the public, then frame their opinions in a manner to satisfy the people’s expectations5.
The media agenda has been identified to influence the public agenda though it does not determine it. The influence of the media does not overpower the ability of the public to make rational decisions on the main issues regarding their communities or nation.
The people are observed to be capable of determining the importance of an issue that has been presented by the media, irrespective of whether it is recurrent. If the public identifies the news stories in the media to be important, then the media can be said to have set the agenda.
An example of the rationality behind people’s opinions despite media efforts to sway their views was observed in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. The media failed in its efforts to relate the scandal to the accomplishments or disappointments in governance of President Clinton while in office6.
The essence of agenda-setting was identified to be a psychological need by people to understand the scenario of a new situation. The media-agenda is seen to influence especially in situations where the public has little information on the particular issue.
Politically, this is seen when there are new candidates or referendum issues that people are not adequately informed in. The media provides orientation to the public on new and unfamiliar issues. The degree of the need for orientation depends on the relevance of the matter and the level of uncertainty7.
Positive Effects of Agenda Setting Theory
One of the benefits of the media is that it provides people with information of the occurrences both locally and internationally. This information is what determines the discussions held among friends, since it involves situations of people we love and helps to determine the well-being of our liberty.
The research conducted by McComb and Shaw was beyond the investigation of whether the media determined the issues discussed by the community. Maxwell determined that the topics that people discussed were chosen by the media, which was indicated by the continued discussion of a particular issue that remained on the front page for a long time. In addition to this discovery8,
McComb sought to find out whether the thoughts of the people were controlled by the media, in terms of what people thought about, and how they thought about it. People were observed to follow the content provided by the media in everyday discussions. The agenda-setting theory helps to explain why the public collectively prioritizes similar topics.
It also identifies that people exposed to the same media hold similar positions of the key issues, while exposure to varying media creates varying key issues. Consumer research is a field that has benefited from agenda setting, in that organizations can be able to tailor their messages so that they can pull the crowd, based on what is considered to be of importance to the public.
The public is dependent on mass-media to receive the most important information, which is relayed in a manner that is easy to understand9.
Negative Effects of Agenda Setting Theory
The media sets the agenda for discussion based on the information provided with bias. An example of a story that was publicized for a long time was the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. By virtue of it being on the newspaper front page for several days, the matter was a hot discussion topic.
The media stations were also in competition for providing any new information relating to the scandal first, and so they posted updates on websites. The media stations shared every bit of information with the people, which is one of the negative impacts of the media on society. The provision of excess information by the media becomes harmful to the public, and especially the involved parties10.
The people who are constantly talked about and judged by the public due to continued display of their issues by the media find it difficult to overcome their problems, with everyone watching. Another incidence of the negative impact of the agenda setting theory is in the televising of the capture of children by Iraqi soldiers.
The release of this kind of information to the concerned family members via the media is not the right approach. The information provided by the media is also likely to be politically influenced due to the correlation between media owners and the politicians11.
Since politicians are in some cases sponsored by media owners, they may choose to direct their political advertisements through particular media, therefore influencing the material that is made available to the public. Agenda setting is also disadvantageous in that it may neglect some key issues, leaving the public uninformed on some important matters.
At the same time, the media creates a sense of biasness among the people, due to selective availing of information that makes them appear favorable to the public. This implies that the public may not be thoughtful or keenly involved in public matters, due to the lack of detailed information12.
Conclusion
Every single day, there is an issue for discussion among members of the public. This topic is on most cases determined by the media.
Despite the disadvantages of having particular topics with higher priority than others, the media plays a big role in providing the information, which we can then process and come up with an opinion for ourselves. The opinions that people form from the stories in the media can then be expressed using various channels, without interference from the government, due to freedom of speech.
According to the studies conducted by McComb and Shaw, high salience of affect prevented the media from obtaining more information regarding matters of high individual significance. It was recommended that investigations on communication behaviour and political agenda-setting include other variables.
The consideration of psychological and sociological variables was identified to be of importance in the study of political consensus.
Bibliography
McCombs, Maxwell, and Donald Shaw. “The agenda-setting function of mass media.” Public Opinion Quarterly, 1972: 36, 176-187.
McCombs, Maxwell, Esteban Lopez-Escobar, and Juan Pablo Llamas. “Setting the agenda of attributes in the 1996 Spanish general election.” Journal of Communication, 2000: 50(2), 77-92.
Rossler, Patrick, and Michael Schenk. “Cognitive bonding and the German reunification: Agenda-setting and persuasion effects of mass media.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 2000: 12(1), 29-47.
Footnotes
1 Shaw and McCombs were studying the role of the media in the presidential campaign in 1968. The study was conducted in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
2 Maxwell McCombs, Lopez-Escobar Esteban, and Juan Pablo Llamas. “Setting the agenda of attributes in the 1996 Spanish general election.” Journal of Communication, 2000: 50(2), 77-92.
3Patrick Rossler, and Schenk Michael. “Cognitive bonding and the German reunification: Agenda-setting and persuasion effects of mass media.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 2000: 12(1), 29-47.
4Maxwell McCombs, and Donald Shaw. “The agenda-setting function of mass media.” Public Opinion Quarterly, 1972: 36, 176-187
5 Maxwell McCombs, and Donald Shaw, 182
6 Maxwell McCombs, Lopez-Escobar Esteban, and Juan Pablo Llamas, 87
7 Patrick Rossler, and Schenk Michael, 31
8 Maxwell McCombs, and Donald Shaw, 186
9 Maxwell McCombs, Lopez-Escobar Esteban, and Juan Pablo Llamas, 89
10 Maxwell McCombs, and Donald Shaw, 186
11 Patrick Rossler, and Schenk Michael, 32
12 Patrick Rossler, and Schenk Michael, 33