Agenda-Setting: The Importance Of The News Media

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“News media may not be successful in telling people what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling their audiences what to think about.” (Cohen, 1963). Media in all its forms are our principal source of information about public and current affairs. There are expectations and predictions made for the news; that it is news worthy, or in other words that a story has news value. Journalists are expected to ‘sort the news from the noise’ and remain unbiased in their telling of it. However, naturally not everything can be reported and judgements must be made on what has the most news value or importance. Regardless of the media outlet, by placing focus on a small number of issues, this conveys the message to the audience that they are the …show more content…

News media can only provide a limited view of the larger environment. The theory of Agenda-Setting refers to the notion that the emphasis mass media place on particular issues result in the mass audience assigning greater importance to these issues. Media emphasis is understood to be based on the amount of coverage and the relative placement of an issue. (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007). Put simply, agenda -setting refers to whether we think about an issue, while framing refers to how we think about an issue. Walter Lippmann, an American journalist and writer, is credited with being the ‘intellectual father’ of the concept of agenda –setting. Fifty years before the first investigation of agenda –setting in mass communication, his 1922 book ‘Public Opinion’ encapsulates the theory of agenda –setting, albeit without using the phrase. Lippmann’s hypothesis was that the news media acted as windows to the world beyond our direct contact or experience and “determine our cognitive maps of the world”. (McCombs, 2004). He argued our opinion isn’t born from “the environment, but the pseudo –environment” which is

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