Week 11 - Agenda Setting

Agendas in general seem to be getting a lot of mentions in the press as of late, in particular politics. "Abbott's running his own agenda" "The Labor Party is beholden to the Greens agenda" etc etc. Why are different agendas so important in media?

Probably the most effective definition offered in class was from Coleman, McCombs, Shaw and Weaver.
                             “Agenda setting is the process of the

                               mass media presenting certain issues

                               frequently and prominently with the

                               result that large segments of the public

                              come to perceive those issues as more

                              important than others.  Simply put, the

                               more coverage an issue receives, the

                                more important it is to people.”

In a world of 'reality' television, this is more meaningful than ever before. I touched on the Craig Thomson saga in my news values blogs but as a story it is a perfect example once again of agenda setting in the media. Two years ago it caused barely a ripple in the press, but now it seems as if there are entire sections and channels dedicated to covering the latest breaking news in regards to Thomson.

The four different agendas are public (what the public believes to be important), policy (what the policy and decision makers believe are important), corporate (what big business and corporations believe are important) and media (what media believes to be important) and they are all interrelated. In particular, the mass media saturation of an issue is more than likely going to lead to the public then perceiving that issue as important.

Walter Lippman wrote, in 1922, that 'mass media creates images of events in our minds' and 'propaganda is used as a tool to help shape images in the minds of humans'. One of the best examples of propaganda during the 1st half of the 20th Century is, unfortunately, Joseph Goebbel and Hitler's Nazi propaganda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af44Slin7lg

Consider the similarities between this Goebbel article The Coffee Drinkers (http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb22.htm) and criticism of Nancy Pelosi from neo-cons in America during Goerge W. Bush's reign http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/11/13/MN134531.DTL.

The Agenda Setting family is:

• Media Gatekeeping
• Media Advocacy
• Agenda Cutting
• Agenda Surfing
• The diffusion of News
• Portrayal of an Issue
• Media Dependence

Agenda Setting has advantages such as explanatory, predictive and organising powers and can lead to the need for further research into a particular topic. However, an adverse effect of Agenda Setting is the narrowing of news and views. 

With the advent of the 24/7 news cycle Agenda Setting has taken on new meaning, particularly with politics. MP's are now swamped on their way to work/Parliament House/press conferences in the morning, when they leave question time, when they are touring their electorate etc etc. There is online media and cable television constantly updating news items with opinion pieces and public reaction. From a personal point of view, the lesson enforced the need to always question the stories I see/read/hear. Why is this news? Why is being presented this way? What sort of follow-up reporting is done? I look forward to the next class on Investigative Journalism.