Thursday, 8 November 2012

Lecture 11- Agenda Setting


Lecture 11 offered an interesting insight into the complexities of Agenda Setting, which can best be defined as the ‘social construction of reality’ and begs the question.

‘What is a journalist’s role in shaping public opinion?’

The 4 facets of agenda setting most relevant to us as students are these:
1.    Public Agenda
2.    Policy Agenda
3.    Corporate Agenda
4.    Media Agenda

These are all interrelated.

The two most basic assumptions of Media Agenda Setting are these:
1.    The Mass Media does not merely reflect and report reality- they filter and shape it.
2.    Media Concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive these issues as more important than other issues.

The earliest definitions of agenda setting stem from Harold Laswell in 1920- it’s been around for ages. 

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