The media has a lot of influence. Even more than we often realize. Agenda setting is a theory about the influence of the media on public opinion. Certain news items receive more attention, so the public automatically considers them important. What is agenda setting and how can you use it?
When something is big news, it attracts the attention of the mass media. Whether it's a death in the British royal family or an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale, the news media is on high alert to cover it and provide the public with facts and information.
But sometimes it seems as if the mass media, with so much focus on one event, overlook or even ignore other important stories. That's what agenda-setting theory is about: media reporting that determines which issues are in the center of public attention.
The origins of agenda setting theory
University professors Donald Shaw and Maxwell McCombs first introduced the theory in 1972. They surveyed voters in North Carolina during the 1986 presidential election and found that voters cared about the same issues as those that the mass media considered most important.
It was the birth of the agenda-setting theory, which basically means that the mass media sets the agenda of what the public finds important.
Assumptions of agenda setting theory
The agenda setting theory makes two assumptions:
- Media filter and shape what we see and therefore not only pass on stories to the public. For example, they sometimes choose to place sensational topics above more recent events, causing the latest news to be obscured.
- The more attention the media pays to a topic, the more likely it is that the public also finds the topic important. Media organizations don't tell us how to think or feel about a topic or story, but they do feed us certain stories or topics.
The theory is scientifically and psychologically substantiated. The more a story is published in the mass media, the more it becomes prominently stored in people's memories. It's about the power of repetition and we register it as important even if the topic has no direct personal impact.
Types of agenda setting
There are three types of agenda setting:
- Public agenda setting: when the public determines which stories are important.
- Media agenda setting: when the media determines which stories are important.
- Policy agenda setting: when both the public and the media influence decisions of public policymakers.
The process of agenda setting
Agenda setting involves a cognitive process whereby the more often and more prominently the news media cover a topic, the more it sticks in people's memories.
When you ask respondents what is the most important issue facing the country, they respond with the most well-known news topic, which is typically the one that the news media has paid the most attention to. Three guesses what that is today!
Agenda setting is not about receiving one or a few messages, but about the consequences of receiving a large number of messages. They may all have different content, but they generally address the same issue.
And it goes further: mass media reports also influence how people think others think. Which in turn means that they attach more importance to issues that have been extensively covered in the media.
Priming and framing
The terms 'priming' and 'framing' often go hand in hand with agenda setting theory. First of all, reporting activates certain knowledge in our memory and makes it more accessible.
Priming
With priming, the media determine how the public evaluates certain matters. They do this by placing a lot of emphasis on certain things, because then the public will talk about them more. By only putting one particular side of the story in the spotlight, this is further emphasized.
With priming, the media attaches great importance to a certain event, so that the audience also considers this specific news to be the most important. Media do this by covering the subject regularly for months. Media emphasize the subject extra with terms such as 'headline', 'special news feature', they present it in the form of a discussion or as an expert's opinion.
Framing
Framing is about the way journalists choose, frame, shape and dress their subjects. They present the news in a certain frame: their own perception of the subject.
Framing is used to make complicated topics easier, but they are subject to internal and external factors. The media frame ultimately determines from which perspective the audience views the subject.
An example of agenda setting: Black Lives Matter
An example of agenda setting theory is the Black Lives Matter movement. BLM has been around for several years, but in 2020 the movement gained worldwide attention after the murder of George Floyd.
Floyd's death sparked outrage, with #BlackLivesMatter re-emerging as the top trend across all social media channels. The United States erupted with protests, petitions and calls for change in American policing.
The country's deep-rooted racism also came to the fore and the movement dominated social media for months. In this case it is very interesting to see how differently it was reported in the regular news media than on social media.
For example, many major news outlets presented photos and videos of police officers in Buffalo, NY kneeling in solidarity with the protesters. A day later, a video went viral on social media of the same officers pushing an elderly man to the ground, leaving him with a bloody head wound, while no one helped him.
Criticism of agenda setting theory
One of the problems with agenda setting theory is that it is difficult to measure. Much research has been done, but a link between public fame and media attention has never been demonstrated.
And in 2021, with the great influence of social media and the internet, everyone can find news they are looking for, without the limitation of only one or two sources. The claim that the mass media sets the agenda is even more difficult to substantiate.
Critics therefore argue that the theory does not work for people who have already made up their own minds. Just look at what is happening in the debate surrounding vaccinations. The media can devote countless reports to the safety of vaccines, but there are still individuals who do not believe it.
What can you do with this theory?
The media is powerful. They may not necessarily tell us what to think (whether to choose A or B). But they do play an important role in telling us what to think about (that A and B are indeed the two most important things to think about).
They also tell us which aspects of topics are important in reaching these conclusions.
The media therefore have a major influence on the public agenda and in principle everyone can use it. You can try to get a topic on the agenda of the media, who will then put it on the public agenda. You can also create hype around certain issues and frame or reframe issues.
Also see: 9 Tips to influence public opinion
Need help with agenda setting?
Would you like to know more about putting issues on the agenda for politicians and the public? Issuemakers advises and supports organizations that have or want to make an impact, by monitoring, managing and creating issues for them. Take Contact contact us, we are happy to help you!