Macy Lyn Yamat

"Setting the Agenda"

History and Orientation

Agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media – the ability to tell us what issues are important. As far back as 1922, the newspaper columnist Walter Lippman was concerned that the media had the power to present images to the public. McCombs and Shaw investigated presidential campaigns in 1968, 1972 and 1976. In the research done in 1968 they focused on two elements: awareness and information. Investigating the agenda-setting function of the mass media, they attempted to assess the relationship between what voters in one community said were important issues and the actual content of the media messages used during the campaign. McCombs and Shaw concluded that the mass media exerted a significant influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign.

The agenda setting the creation of public awareness and concern of salient issues by the news media. Two basis assumptions underlie most research on agenda-setting: (1) the press and the media do not reflect reality; they filter and shape it; (2) media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues. One of the most critical aspects in the concept of an agenda- issetting role of mass communication is the time frame for this phenomenon. In addition, different media have different agenda-setting potential. Agenda-setting theory seems quite appropriate to help us understand the pervasive role of the media (for example on political communication systems).

Functions of Theory

The agenda-setting function is a 3 part-process

1. Media Agenda - issues discussed in the media ( newspapers, television, radio)

2. Public Agenda - issues discussed and personally relevant to the public

3. Policy Agenda - issues that policy makers consider important (legislators) These three agendas are interrelated. Two basis assumptions underlie most research on agenda-setting: (1) the press and the media do not reflect reality; they filter and shape it; (2) media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues (Media Tenor Institute).

Characterstics

Characteristics: research has focused on characteristics of audience, the issues, and the media that might predict variations in the agenda setting effect.

• Need for Orientation: Research done by Weaver in 1977 suggested that individuals vary on their need for orientation. Need for orientation is a combination of the individual’s interest on the topic and uncertainty about the issue. The higher levels of interest and uncertainty produce higher levels of need for orientation. So the individual would be considerably likely to be influenced by the media stories (psychological aspect of theory) (Miller 2005).

• Issue Obtrusiveness: Research performed by Zucker (1978) suggested that an issue is obtrusive if most members of the public have had direct contact with it and less obtrusive if audience members have not had direct experience. This means that agenda setting results should be strongest for unobtrusive issues because audience members must rely on media for information on these topics (Miller 2005).

Various Levels of Agenda Setting

• First-level agenda setting This is the level that is most traditionally studied by researchers. In this level the media use objects or issues to influence the public. In this level the media suggest what the public should think about (amount of coverage).
• Second-level agenda setting. In this level the media focuses on the characteristics of the objects or issues. In this level the media suggest how the people should think about the issue (tone about an issue).
• Intermedia agenda setting (salience transfer among the media)(Coleman and Banning 2006; Lee 2005).

Important Concepts

• Gatekeeping -- Control over the selection of content exercised by media What the public know and care at any given time is mostly a product of media-gatekeeping.
• Priming -- Effects of particular, prior context on retrieval and interpretation of information. The media's content will provide alot of time and space to certain issues and then these issues are accessible and vivid in the public's mind (Miller 2005).
• Framing -- Framing is a process of selective control over media content or public communication. Framing defines how a certain piece of media content is packaged so it will influence particular interpretations. This is accomplished through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration. This is central to second level agenda setting.

Usage of Theory

• political advertising
• political campaigns and debates
• corporate realm, business influence on federal policy (Berger 2001)
• legal systems, trials (Ramsey and McGuire 2000)
• role of groups, audience control, public opinion
• public relations

Strengths of Theory

• It has explanatory power because it explains why most people prioritize the same issues as important.
• It has predictive power because it predicts that if people are exposed to the same media, they will feel the same issues are important.
• It can be proven false. If people aren’t exposed to the same media, they won’t feel the same issues are important.
• It’s meta-theoretical assumptions are balanced on the scientific side.
• It lays groundwork for further research.
• It has organizing power because it helps organize existing knowledge of media effects.D

DIFFUSING INFORMATION AND INNOVATION

History and Orientation

Diffusion research goes one step further than two-step flow theory. The original diffusion research was done as early as 1903 by the French sociologist Gabriel Tarde who plotted the original S-shaped diffusion curve. Tardes' 1903 S-shaped curve is of current importance because "most innovations have an S-shaped rate of adoption" (Rogers, 1995).

Diffusion is the “process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over a period of time among the members of a social system”. An innovation is “an idea, practice, or object that is perceived to be new by an individual or other unit of adoption”. “Communication is a process in which participants create and share information with one another to reach a mutual understanding”

Diffusion of information and innovation theory explains this process. characteristic of innovation or new ideas as well as characteristic of the adopters influence the adoptation process. Ideas or innovations are more readily adopted if they are:

* more advantageous than the current situation.

* compatible with the previous experience and other aspects of the situation.

* simple.

* easily tried, and

* observable with readily apparent outcomes.

innovators are the 1st to adopt new ideas followed by the early adopters , early majority, late majority and laggards.

Diffusion and adoption processes illustrate the impact that mass communication has on interpersonal communication and networks. More important, they show how mass and interpersonal communication interact in social system and in social change.

DEFINING SOCIAL SUPPORT

formation of public opinion

Spiral of Silence

The phrase "spiral of silence" actually refers to how people tend to remain silent when they feel that their views are in the minority. The model is based on three premises: 1) people have a "quasi-statistical organ," a sixth-sense if you will, which allows them to know the prevailing public opinion, even without access to polls, 2) people have a fear of isolation and know what behaviors will increase their likelihood of being socially isolated, and 3) people are reticent to express their minority views, primarily out of fear of being isolated.

The closer a person believes the opinion held is similar to the prevailing public opinion, the more they are willing to openly disclose that opinion in public. Then, if public sentiment changes, the person will recognize that the opinion is less in favor and will be less willing to express that opinion publicly. As the perceived distance between public opinion and a person's personal opinion grows, the more unlikely the person is to express their opinion.

It is related to the mass media, in such a way that mass media influences public opinion. Shifts in public opinion occur commonly and therefore this theory is used to search an explanation for behavior (speak up or stay silent).

The theory has also been criticized for ambiguity and methodological weakness, but the idea has persisted. Evidence of the spiral effect is usually small but significant.

Spiral of Silence is a theory of media and public opinion. It is regarded as another type of agenda setting theory that is focused on macro-level rather than on micro-level consequences. It is concerned with the interplay between four elements: mass media, individual expressions of opinions, social relations and interpersonal communications, and perceptions that individuals have the surrounding “climate of opinion” in their own social environment.