Agenda-setting Theory - Core Assumptions and Statements

Core Assumptions and Statements

Agenda- Setting is the media’s ability to transfer salience issues through their new agenda so the public agenda can form their understanding of the salience issues. Two basic 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. "Mass Communication plays an important role in our society its purpose is to inform the public about current and past events. Mass communication is defined in “ Mass Media, Mass Culture” as the process whereby professional communicators use technological devices to share messages over great distances to influence large audiences. Within this process the media, which can be a newspaper, a book and television, takes control of the information we see or hear. The media then uses gatekeeping and agenda setting to “control our access to news, information, and entertainment” (Wilson 14). Gatekeeping is a series of checkpoints that the news has to go through before it gets to the public. Through this process many people have to decide whether or not the news is to bee seen or heard. Some gatekeepers might include reporters, writers, and editors. After gatekeeping comes agenda setting."(Wilson,2005) One of the most critical aspects in the concept of an agenda-setting role of mass communication is the time frame for this phenomenon. In addition, different media have different agenda-setting potential.

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