Agenda Setting Communication Theory - Coursework Example

Agenda Setting Communication Theory The communication theory selected for this case is the agenda setting theory. The theory describes the influence of the media on topics on the public spectrum. The theory implies that the public regards news items that are covered prominently and frequently as the most imperative. Donald Shaw and Max McCombs developed the agenda setting theory in 1968. According to the two theorists, news audiences learn about a given issue and the importance of the issue from the amount of information presented in the news and its position. The agenda setting theory was developed after a study on the U.S presidential elections of 1968. In the study, the theorists demonstrated the correlation between what residents in Chapel Hill, North Carolina considered as the most important election issue, and what the national and local news media reported as important (McCombs, Shaw & Weaver, 2013). Through the comparison of the salience issues in the news with the perceptions of the public, the researchers determined the extent to which media determines public opinion. History of the Agenda Setting Theory Walter Lippmann first published this theory in the Public Opinion. In this publication, Lippmann developed the connection between the mind of people and worldly events. Later in 1963, Bernard Cohen showed that though the media was not powerful in influencing people on how to think, it played a crucial role in providing the public with issues. This idea led to the development of the agenda setting theory by Shaw and McCombs (McCombs, Shaw & Weaver, 2013). Assumptions and the Nature of the Theory The agenda setting theory is based on two important assumptions. The first assumption is that the media and press do not reflect reality. The theory considers the two entities to shape and filter reality. The second assumption is that media concentration on subjects and issues leads the public to consider these issues as important (Dearing & Rogers, 1996). The most imperative aspect of the theory is the period of the agenda setting function of mass communication. It is vital to note that different media have different potentials to set the agenda. The agenda setting theory is dependent on the cognitive abilities of audiences and users of mass media. This means that agenda setting takes place through a cognitive method called accessibility. The higher the frequencies of news outlets focus on an issue, the higher the probability of the issue to become accessible to audiences. When audiences and user of the news media are asked the most important issue or problem facing them, they are likely to answer according to their ability to access the news issue in their memory. This is usually the issue that the news media frequently and prominently aired. Agenda setting does not only occur because of repeated coverage of a news message. It occurs because of the aggregate impact of many news messages with dissimilar content, but handling the same issue (Dearing & Rogers, 1996). Mass media coverage in agenda setting has a powerful impact on how people think. As a result, people tend to think more about issues that have more coverage on mass media. Types of Agenda Setting According to J.W. Dearing and Everett Rogers, there are three types of agenda setting. These are the policy, media and public agenda setting. Policy agenda setting focuses on the role of the public and media in influencing how policy makers make their decisions. Public agenda setting is focused on the agenda of an audience, and media agenda setting is focused on how mass media influences audiences. The most controversial of the three agenda setting is the media agenda setting (Dearing & Rogers, 1996). According to David Gauntlett, the media agenda setting model is not applicable in the current social setting. Gauntlett argued that the model approaches social issues such as violence and drug abuse by blaming the mass media instead of focusing on the violent person or drug addict (Littlejohn & Foss, 2008). The agenda setting theory and media’s influence on audiences should be approached through the consideration of the audience’s predisposition to some beliefs. The public model of agenda setting affirms that media coverage of issues or events interact with audience’s pre-existing sensitivities (Littlejohn & Foss, 2008). This means that the issue will affect audiences that are sensitive to events covered by the mass media. The situation led to the establishment of the audience effect model within the agenda setting theory. The audience effect model is also concerned with the variations between the media and public agenda. The model’s concern is whether issues are unobtrusive or obtrusive. Obtrusive issues are issues that affect large number of people. For instance, issues such as the rising cost of food and energy prices affect large number of people within a population. Unobtrusive issues are issues that are remote to the public. The issues could be political scandals or territorial crisis. The agenda setting theory implies that the obtrusiveness of issues is dependent on the personal experiences of the audience with a topic (Littlejohn & Foss, 2008). Therefore, mass media coverage on unemployment rates may not affect the people in stable jobs as it would affect people who are unemployed. Criticism of the Agenda Setting Theory Like other communication theories, the agenda setting theory has been heavily criticized. One of the criticisms leveled against the theory is that it highly difficult to be quantified. Surveys on public responses to media content are usually divided into broad results and categories, which are inflated. As a result, these results and categories are not accurate or relevant. The theory is also considered to be casual because of its surveying methods and number of variables involved (Johnson, 2013). For instance, a study of media effects on violence in the society requires the researcher to consider the differences between fictional and factual violence. This consideration does not influence the views of audiences because they have a fixed definition of violence. In addition, the researcher is required to track the number of times violence occurs in the media item of concern. Before any conclusion is made, the researcher will be required to evaluate individual instances and general rates of violence, and then determine the correlation between the two. New Direction for the Theory Technological advances have led to an increase in the number of media through which content can reach audiences. These advances have also introduced new ways in which mass media can influence the public. During the development of the theory, the theorists were only concerned with the technology that was available. They were focused on the one-way communication platform, which included television, radio, print and film. In the current age of two-way communication, the communication theory will be forced to adopt. Media users and content audiences have two-way communication and unlimited sources of content. Social media and the internet allow the public to participate in public discourse with the sources of content. This means that an individual can contribute to a debate and maybe change discourse. This trend will have implications for the theory (Johnson, 2013). The most imperative implication is that the public will have the freedom to select its sources of media. In addition, social media and its ability to set agendas will affect the theory. Though people tend to rely on social media, they will use traditional media to get the real and reliable news. This has led to a trend whereby a news event is followed by a trending topic on social media such as Twitter. Conclusion Max McCombs and Donald Shaw developed the agenda setting theory that can explain the ability of news to influence the topics discussed by the public. According to the theory, audiences consider issues that are frequently aired as the most imperative. The theory is dependent on a cognitive process called accessibility. Technological advancements will determine the new direction of the theory. Currently, social media is influencing public agenda and discussion. In addition, people can discuss a news event or issue with the source of the news through the two-way communication platforms. The agenda setting theory might have to incorporate the ability of social media to influence public agenda in the future. References Dearing, J. W., & Rogers, E. M. (1996). Agenda-setting. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage. Johnson, T. (2013). Agenda Setting In a 2.0 World: New Agendas in Communication. London: Routledge. Littlejohn, S. W., & Foss, K. A. (2008). Theories of human communication. Australia: Thomson Wadsworth. McCombs, M., Shaw, D., Weaver, D. (2013). Communication and Democracy: Exploring the Intellectual Frontiers in Agenda Setting Theory. London: Routledge. Read More