Agenda setting is one of the media theories that dictates how we view the media. The theory was developed by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in 1972. They came up with this theory from looking at voters and their behavior based off of the media.This is more about how the media can tell us what to talk about and what they present to us but not how we feel about it. How we feel is what we come up with based off of what we see.

 

Framing is another aspect of agenda setting. it was founded in 1988 and it's when the media can have the audience think a certain way to get to a conclusion. This works by the media giving certain facts and describing in a specific way so that you get to that conclusion but it feels natural. It feels like you came to that conclusion yourself when really it was based off the facts presented to you. You can learn more about framing and more details of agenda setting here.

In a video I watched on agenda setting, the presenter described the example of Obama Care vs The Affordable Care Act. Basically, both of them were presented to a group of people and the individuals felt differently about Obama Care because some people did not like Obama at the time. Obama Care and The Affordable Care Act are the same thing but because of the name and the way it was presented had people drawing conclusions without even knowing much about the topic. 

Agenda setting can be looked at in a visual format. First off you have reality which is the things happening in the world that we see. Then you have your gatekeepers who are basically the reporters of the world and the people bringing you this information. The next step is the media agenda which is the step at which the facts are put into the media and its decided what conclusion they want you to feel and how their going to get you to it. Public agenda is the viewing portion where people discuss the media that then turns into policy agenda. This is when the government comes in and politicians becomes important. This is when politicians can decide how they want the public to view them. They can see what voters want and they will please them by putting certain laws and policies in place. 

The policy agenda and the media agenda become a cycle because what happens in the policy agenda then becomes media for the media agenda so those go back and forth. The media agenda will decide how they cover stories based on how the policy agenda reacts. The audience is below all of this because we are influenced by all of it. 

Now that we understand the theory and what it is, we can decide, do we think this theory is correct? This is an opinions based question but I think yes. I think this can actually be seen as a really bad thing and we are seeing it a lot today. With politics being so prevalent and dividing our country more than ever, I think we're seeing this a little too much. Agenda setting is being seen lot on the political news companies which is contributing to the divide in the country. These companies are only showing certain sides to the story which in turn is turning the country on itself. It's causing fights between the left and right because people are not getting the same news. If we continue down this road it could lead to some serious implications with fighting in our country and we'll continue to go backwards as a society. While I do understand the reason for doing this is not to harm the country it could still be dangerous. News companies and politicians are trying to please the people so they're seeing more of what they're interested in which in turn creates more revenue for these companies. 

This generation is growing up in the age of "fake news" and a lot of this is coming from the theory of agenda setting. Giving the media too much control and allowing them to change stories or only share what they want you to hear should not be allowed. There should be a portion of the government that regulates this and ensures that all sides are represented equally and fairly. 

I like the propaganda pictures above and to the right because it does a great job representing what agenda setting really is. It's interesting because it makes you think you are viewing media on your own when it's really completely controlled by the gatekeepers.