Related: 10 Careers You Can Follow With a Degree in Communications 3 levels of agenda-settingĪgenda-setting relies on a cognitive process called accessibility, which refers to how repeated information makes it more accessible and memorable for the average person. The public may perceive issues the media focuses on the most as more important than others. The media shapes and filters reality, instead of reflecting it. The theory of agenda-setting relies on two assumptions: This bias can influence public opinion on topics like politics, the economy, social issues, or culture. By purposely placing a story in a prominent position, or continuously running it, the media indirectly alludes to its importance. They may believe a story that appears on every major news network is more important than one that appears once on local TV. For example, people may assume front-page news is more important than information on page 10. It's this expectation that journalists and others in mass communications also rely on when using agenda-setting to determine what stories to run and how to present them.Īgenda setting can help the media promote information in a way that aligns with a select narrative. The public often relies on the media to supply accurate and timely reporting so they can learn what's happening in their community and around the world. It can also be one of the biggest influences on what the public thinks, often shaping how they understand important issues. The media is possibly the most influential source of information the public receives. Related: Your Guide to a Career in Communications (With Job Titles) How does agenda-setting work? This can give the public the often erroneous perception that a story is more important. The media regularly uses agenda-setting strategies, including repeatedly running certain stories or placing them in prominent positions, like above the fold in a newspaper, or headlining TV or radio spots. With technology, this information is highly accessible and often available in real-time, allowing the public to stay informed about important local and world events. The public relies on mediums like newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, websites, blogs and podcasts for information about current or past events. They concluded that the news can play an important part in how and what the public thinks about certain issues. By comparing the prevalence of news stories in the media with the public's opinion on priority issues for the presidential election, researchers found a significant positive correlation between the two. Researchers developed the agenda-setting theory in 1968 in relation to voters' perceptions of important election issues. Related: Public Policy Careers: Essential Skills and Jobs List What is agenda-setting theory? In this article, we explain the theory of agenda-setting, describe how it works, explore three levels of agenda-setting, and provide important concepts to the theory. Understanding how agenda-setting theory works, and its various applications, can be helpful for a career in journalism or other communication-based positions, like public relations, politics, public policy, or marketing. This concept, called agenda-setting theory, occurs when the media runs certain stories more than others, making them appear more important. The media typically has a lot of influence on what the public thinks.
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