Interview conducted by Em Griffin, author of A First Look at Communication Theory. Find more resources on this and other communication theories at www.afirstlook.com.
The agenda-setting theory says that the media focus our attention and tell us what to think about. The media can influence how we think, and even by extension, what we think - our attitude and opinion - but in some cases what we do. Media agenda-setting is an inadvertent by-product of the fact that the media have to select a few topics each day. The evidence suggests that most of the news plays pretty much right down the middle. Increasingly people say they don't trust the media, and some are convinced that there's a liberal bias.
Is this theory correct? Is the media the one setting the agenda for the country? Are they the ones determining what we are talking about or not? Or it is the politician? Or is it us who has more say on it?
by the 2.0 and so much more global personal journalism by tweeter and facebook, this theories of how the agenda been setted need to modify in some more details...
Austin American Statesman, 129.5k daily, 183k Sundays. CNN digital, 200 million unique/month in US, 347 million worldwide.... Odd example, and honestly throws most of the rest of his study on the theory in question.
Inadvertent? Really? With all due respect to Dr. McCombs, I think that a sound argument could be made against this claim with a tremendous amount of evidence: Fox News.
With all due respect to you too Jodi, I believe that taking into account that this interview was filmed in 2002 is reason enough for us not to take his fourteen-year old belief against him. The news media have been getting more and more biased as time passes by and I must say that, possibly, during the time he was interviewed, the news media were not 'that' biased yet (in comparison to the present time's severity).
