Blog 8: EOTO

Agenda setting is a very important type of theory in mass media. It was originally developed in 1968 by Dr. Max McCombs and Dr. Donald Shaw. They both had a strong passion for the news and media coverage overall and hearing about other specific opinions. Agenda setting generally changes how viewers understand politics, the economy, and different cultures. The publics opinions on things is set by media coverages either in a negative or positive light. Agenda setting highlights specific issues that viewers chose to believe the level of importance they are. The meaning of this statement is that if the media only shows specific issues highlighted the most, the public will not pay as much attention to other issues that are going on in the world. It is based off of a cognitive process that is called "accessibility", which can be considered a competitive and conflictive process. A specific crisis or event can become apart of agenda setting that requires attention to. However, some issues might not be classified due to them not being recognized as a relevant problem or it is not a legit state concern. Another name for agenda setting is "Mass Media, Mass Culture", which is what and how the media decides on what their audience should focus on. It also reshapes specific events that are currently occurring in the world and environment today. It always succeeds in telling people what to think about and gets their minds going. This is the affect that it makes on the society as a whole. 

There are a few different factors that do affect the concept of agenda setting as a whole. These factors include the concept of gatekeeping, external influencers, and different types of managers. The extent to which these different types of factors affect the process of agenda setting typically depend on the amount of power different factors have on influencing the media as a whole. There are two different levels of agenda setting, one being the first that  is based on the transfer of sets of objects, while the second being based on different attributes competing for specific attention from the media. The first level is structured around certain public issues such as crimes and terrorism acts. There are different studies how each level of these affect the society in their own ways and how impactful they can be. Agenda setting affects different generations in a variety of ways due to which generation has more of a passion for the media and politic aspects than another generation does. It also depends on the focus of the types of issues displayed and the results of these issues that are put into play.

Overall, agenda setting contains many more positive and beneficial affects to the society rather than negative. It is known as being one of the most studied and examined concepts that affects media research and plays a role into mass media communication. It continues to this day to influence local newspaper companies along with national television, which makes the process even more well known.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/usgovernment/chapter/reading-agenda-setting-theory/