Agenda Setting Theory

Agenda Setting Theory

The most important context of communication to study is the Agenda Setting Theory.   This theory is something that the public can witness every day just by watching the news on television or by reading in on-line or in print.   Agenda setting “refers to the idea that there is a strong correlation between the emphasis that mass media place on certain issues (e.g., based on relative placement or amount of coverage) and the importance attributed to these issues by mass audiences” (Scheufele 2007).   Another definition of agenda setting is given in the text Communication Mosaics by Julia Wood, “Media’s selection of issues, events, and people to highlight for attention (2006).    
The theory explains the communication between the rate at which the media covers a story and to what extent the public think that the particular story is important.
Agenda-setting is believed to occur because the press must be selective in reporting the news. News outlets are the gatekeepers of information and make choices about what to report and what not to. What the public know and care about at any time is mostly a product of media-gatekeeping.   These gatekeepers literally choose what comes in and what goes out.
There are three levels to the agenda setting process.   1. Media Agenda – the issues discussed in the media, 2. Public Agenda – the issues discussed and personally relevant to the public and 3. Policy Agenda – the issues that policy makers consider important.   There is still some debate by researchers about whether or not one level can cause or affect the other levels.  


Here is a model from Scheufele of what agenda setting may look like/how it may flow:




Any example of where agenda setting might occur would be during the Presidential elections.   The media is very influential in getting the views of each of the candidates across.   Depending on what they have to say about a particular candidate could very likely influence the audience that watches...