Danica D. del Corro ABMC4A (M 2:30-5:30)

Setting the Agenda

Agenda setting suggests that mass media can have strong and important impact on what we know about without affecting our opinions and feelings.

Here are the importance of media agenda setting:

• First of all, media coverage can elevate the public standing issues, people, organizations, institutions and so forth.
• Changes in the amount of media attention can lead to changes in public priorities.
• More concerned people are about something, the more they tend to learn about it, the stronger their opinions are of it, and the more they tend to take action on it.
• The media coverage can affect the agenda priorities of some specific and important publics such as legislators, regulators and other policy makers.

By raising the salience of issues or those issues that are very noticeable and positions taken by people and groups in the news, mass communication can affect public opinion.

Public relations getting on issue onto Media agenda have two effects:

1. Good thing- when you want to raise awareness of an issue
2. Bad Thing- when something embarrassing, dangerous or illegal happens at your organization.

Two Concepts in Agenda Setting Theory

1. Issue Salience- it determines the prominence and penetration the issue has with the audience.
2. Cognitive Priming- it describes the personal experiences or connection someone has with an issue.

Diffusing Information and Innovation

Diffusing information and innovation simply means “spreading of new ideas”. Sources may come from different social, economic and educational backgrounds but are accessible through the media. And the media, then, provide information from sources that would otherwise not be available through interpersonal networks. Once people get information from the media, they enter conversation armed with useful information. Mass media provide information and supply information, thereby diffusing information to others.

Ideas of innovations are more readily adopted if they are:

• More advantageous than the current situation
• Compatible with previous experiences and other aspects of the situation
• Simple
• Easily tried
• Observable with readily apparent outcome

Defining Social Support

Not all people support a particular view or opinions. In this aspect, we have the so called “spiral of silence” which means people tend to remain silent if they think people are not supporting their views or if they think their opinions conflict with the opinion of most people. With this, they are not recognizing social support individually. On the other side, people are more likely to express their views and gain confident if majority agrees with his or her views.

The spiral begins when individuals choose to remain silent or decide to express their own views. It continues as others observe the presence or absence of support for their own views.

People will tend to choose either public silence or expression. With this, media coverage can reflect, enforce or challenge the spiral of silence effect on public opinion.

Mass media messages can provide individuals pictures of their social environment of whether these is social approval or disapproval of their views or action.