Week 6 Agenda Setting Theory

 “Not what to think, but what to think about”.

The agenda setting theory can simply be understood through the phrase above.  Agenda setting is basically how the media specifically the press has the power to influence people on which news information that is considered to be important. McCombs and Shaw as cited by Griffin (2012) believe that the news media has “the ability to transfer the salience of items on their news agenda to the public agenda”. (p.378)

This theory explains the major influence of media in our lives. How the media makes us think what they want us to think. Though we have to keep in mind that we as individuals have the power to choose whether to conform to what the media wants us to do or otherwise.

Here I will use an article from Brunei Times as my example. An article by Sofri (2009) titled "‘Sounds of Hope’ getting louder. "

The first level agenda setting is that an association called ‘Sounds of Hope’ is ‘getting louder’ as in getting heard by people. The second level agenda setting will focus on why ‘Sounds of Hope’ is getting louder. This is where the media narrows down our choices on what to think, basically what they want us to think about.

This article basically follows one of the main functions of agenda setting theory which is the public agenda; promoting issues that are considered important by the public. Referring to the article example, the issue of poverty is something to be taken seriously and the public community needs to make their moves in eradicating it as it was framed by the journalist of that article. Corporate agenda can also be observed here where it is an issue that business corporation sees as important. Referring to the example, who will benefit from this news?

We can observe how the journalist use framing in this article; “Sounds of Hope getting louder”. How the journalist try to make us think what he wants us to think. If I were the journalist, I can frame it differently such as ‘Sounds of Hope’ dare to hope? Which can make the viewers see it from a pessismitic perspective if they just read it from the title. At least to my assumption that it is.

The framing process gives the journalist the ability to make us view certain content with a specific perspective like what I and the journalist have done. Weaver (2007) cited Entman (1993) on framing where he stated that “to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described.” (p.143)

References:

Griffin, E., (2012) A First Look At Communication Theory (8th Edition). New York. McGraw Hill.

Sofri, D., W., (2009) ‘Sounds Of Hope’ Getting Louder. The Brunei Times. Retrieved on 2012 February 11 From http://www.bt.com.bn/lifestyle/2009/10/02/sounds-hope-getting-louder

Weaver, D. (2007) Thoughts on Agenda Setting, Framing, and Priming. Journal of Communication 57 (2007) 142–147.