Summary
In
the field of communication studies, one of the biggest challenges of
any communication theory is to retain its functionality and
relevance, especially in a rapidly-evolving field such as the study
of mass media. Since McCombs and Shaw first published “The Agenda
Setting Function of the Mass Media” in 1972, their seminal work in
this field, media and their ability to wield influence has changed
radically. In reviewing the selected articles authored by McCombs
and Shaw, both together, and in collaboration with other researchers
in this field, one can see how the theory’s founders, as well as
others, have worked to maintain the theory’s relevance in
understanding contemporary issues related to mass media.
McCombs
and Shaw (1972) studied the ability of media to raise awareness of
current issues and influence voters. In their study of undecided
voters in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, they examined how media
raised public awareness of issues related to the then-ongoing
presidential campaign. Their findings suggested that the less
voters knew about specific issues, the more likely they were to turn
to media for information on those issues. While they found media
were often effective in raising awareness of issues with undecided
voters, and that these audiences viewed information presented by
media with an open mind, they also found mass media had less success
at forming opinions among their viewers on those issues.
A
study by Protess et al. (1987), which included McCombs, examined
issues presentation by Chicago media during the run-up to that
city’s municipal elections to determine if local media had an
agenda-setting effect with coverage of local issues. The study
examined how media presented issues related to the city’s elections,
how issues raised by media were received by audiences, and the
ability of these issues of concern with Chicago voters to cross over
into local political campaigns and public policy agendas. They
found media’s ability to transfer an issue into political action
often depended on how well that issue was researched and presented
by media. They also found that issues presented by media that were
new to audiences were better received by the public than issues with
which the public was already familiar.
McCombs and Shaw (1972) found that newspapers, news magazines, and
network television news programs, the primary media outlets of the
time, held a near-monopoly position for news coverage which allowed
them to wield considerable influence with those seeking information
about issues. At the time of McCombs and Shaw’s 1972 study, mass
media presided over what Shaw and Hamm (1997) described as “the Age
of the Journalist,” where news figures were viewed as celebrities
who held considerable influence with public leaders, as well as high
levels of credibility with their audiences. However, they found
that just a generation after McCombs and Shaw’s (1972) research,
media’s position of credibility with the public was eroding, with
media audiences fragmenting and audiences shifting their loyalties
from traditional media outlets to newer media outlets, such as talk
radio, cable news networks, and the Internet. McCombs and
Poindexter (2001) sought to determine if the ongoing shift of
audience allegiances to new media outlets was reducing media’s
ability to drive public opinion on issues. While they found those
viewers who shifted to newer media outlets were more likely to be
actively seeking information regarding specific issues than those
who remained loyal to newspapers and network television, the overall
agenda-setting effect seemed to have held at about the same level as
in previous years.
Key to the ability of media to have an agenda-setting effect upon
their audiences is the desire of their viewers to become informed
about issues. When this effect was first noted by McCombs and Shaw
(1972), they found voters were more likely to seek out input from
media when they had low understanding of issues. Even though what
constituted news media had changed radically since McCombs and
Shaw’s (1972) study, McCombs and Poindexter (2001) found the desire
to become informed remained a strong motivating factor for the
public in turning to media for information on issues, and that
voters still viewed being informed about issues as important as
casting ballots on election days.
For communication theory to be adopted by researchers and remain
viable, it must be able to survive and grow through its ability to
adapt to changing environments, encourage further research, and
serve as a foundation for studies beyond those in which the founders
originally applied their theory. As a theory that has remained
robust, prompted further research into new applications, and adapted
to changing environments, Agenda Setting Theory has proven its
ability to survive and continue to offer valid insights and
understanding in the studies of mass media in contemporary society.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Several strengths and weaknesses of Agenda Setting Theory suggest
themselves in the course of reading the selected journal articles.
McCombs and Shaw (1972), as well as others who have worked with them
since the publication of their seminal article, have grown and
expanded the reach of the theory, as well as its ability to help
understand the agenda-setting function of mass media. In these
articles, they demonstrate that media hold a position of trust with
large audiences and that this position of credibility can be used to
raise awareness of issues among their audiences. They also show how
the dispersal of once-concentrated mass media audiences in recent
years has not undermined the ability of media to disseminate
information and influence the minds of voters.
However, some critical shortcomings are also apparent. While these
articles focus on the presentation of issues during election
campaigns and the willingness of voters to listen to issues
presented by the media, they fail to examine the degree to which
mass media is able to raise issues and attract information-seeking
audiences on its own, or if they rely upon heightened public
interest of political issues during election seasons to perform an
agenda-setting function. Understanding this relationship is
important in gauging the ability of media to set public agendas.
While much research related to this theory focuses on political
campaigns and issues during election campaigns, little research has
been done regarding the ability of media to perform an
agenda-setting function with other issues outside of the political
realm and election years.
In
continuing to further develop Agenda Setting Theory, future research
should seek to determine how much media rely upon political
campaigns and figures in performing their agenda-setting function.
Also, researchers should determine how successfully they can set
public agendas with topics and issues outside of the political
arena. Continued monitoring of the impact of evolution and
diversification of media outlets upon their overall ability to
perform an agenda-setting function also bears watching. By
exploring these areas, a better picture of the true agenda-setting
ability of media will emerge, and help better define the theory’s
abilities, as well as its limitations.
Applicable Research Tradition
McCombs, Shaw, as well as others who have done research related to
this theory, focus on how media connect people to society by raising
their awareness of issues and increasing the likelihood they will
take part in activities with others to take action on those issues,
such as voting, or lobbying for political action on issues raised by
media. By examining the role played by the media in connecting
people to culture and society at-large, this research places Agenda
Setting Theory in the Socio-Cultural Tradition, which examines how
communication connects people to society.
Article Abstracts
McCombs, M.E., & Shaw, D.L. (1972). The agenda setting function of
the mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176-187.
In 1972,
McCombs and Shaw published the results of a study of the impact of
mass media upon undecided voters in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
during the 1968 presidential campaign. This article gave rise to
the Agenda Setting Theory, which examines how media can influence
the views and attitudes of society, primarily among those who are
undecided. In this study, they examined the major media outlets of
the time: network news programs, newspapers, and news magazines.
While they determined media were able to raise awareness of issues,
they found media often had noticeably less success at forming
opinions on those issues.
McCombs
and Shaw determined undecided voters most relied on mass media to
help understand issues upon which they were still undecided. Those
who knew less about issues relied upon media more for information
than others, and were more likely to actively seek out information
than those who already held opinions on those issues.
They also
found media responds to the candidates in determining which issues
to cover. While many of the stories covered were issues upon which
the major candidates were competing, they also found media responded
to specific issues promoted by individual campaigns, as well as how
those issues were being raised.
Protess, D.L. , Cook, F.L., Curtin, T.R. , Gordon, M.T., Leff, D.R.
, McCombs, M.E., & Miller, P. (1987). The impact of investigative
reporting on public opinion and policymaking. Public Opinion
Quarterly, 1987, 51(1), 166-86.
Agenda-Setting theory proposes that mass media can raise public
awareness of issues among undecided voters. While this theory has
been proven to be effective in understanding the role of media in
raising awareness of issues and impacting elections and public
policy, this effectiveness often varies. In this article, McCombs
and other authors conducted a study to examine the ability of media
to raise awareness of local issues in the Chicago metropolitan area.
The
authors found the ability of local media to influence public
awareness of issues varies, depending upon several factors,
including how clearly an issue was presented by the media, as well
as if a particular issue was one which their audiences were familiar
with, or was a new issue. The issues which fared best were issues
their audiences were both previously unfamiliar with and that were
covered in a clear and unambiguous manner.
The authors also measured the effectiveness of media in transferring
the issues they raised from the mindsets of the public to political
agendas in the city of Chicago. According to the authors, the
ability of an issue raised by media to become public policy depended
upon how well researched it was by the media, and how well the issue
was received by the public, with responses by politicians ranging
from public hearings to issues becoming key campaign and policy
agenda items.
Shaw, D.L., & Hamm, B.J. (1997). Agendas for a public union or for
public communities? How individuals are using media to reshape
American society. In M. McCombs, D. Shaw, & D. Weaver (Eds.), Communication
and democracy: Exploring the intellectual frontiers in agenda
setting theory (pp. 209-230). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Shaw, one
of the founders of Agenda-Setting Theory, worked with Hamm (1997) to
reexamine the theory in light of changes that had taken place in the
media since Shaw published “The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass
Media” in 1972. Together, they examine how “new” media, such as
cable television news, talk radio, and the Internet challenge mass
media’s long-held dominance of American society, and if people
respond differently to issue presentation by new media than with
more traditional mass media outlets.
They
describe traditional mass media as having lost their position on top
of a cultural pyramid of communication, and the ongoing loss of
audiences to newer media outlets “a movement too powerful to stop”.
With newspaper circulation having peaked in 1974, and network
television news audiences doing likewise in 1981, they saw the “Age
of the Journalist”, where mass media were able to raise news anchors
and editors to celebrity status, and give platforms to outspoken
public leaders, as coming to an end.
Where Shaw found traditional mass media were most successful with
those who were undecided on issues, they found new media outlets
attract those who sought reinforcement for pre-formed opinions they
held on issues. As new media outlets provided alternative sources
of information and opinion, people were moving away from traditional
media outlets and reducing the overall agenda-setting power of media
outlets.
McCombs, M.E., & Poindexter, P. M. (2001). Revisiting the civic
duty to keep informed in the new media environment. Journalism
and Mass Communication Quarterly, 78(1), 113-28.
McCombs
and Poindexter (2001) examine the motives of undecided voters in
using media to keep informed, in a study conducted in an undisclosed
major metropolitan area in the United States. They sought to gauge
the impact that the growth of new media, such as the Internet, cable
news networks, and talk radio, were having upon mass media and their
ability to perform the agenda-setting function that McCombs and Shaw
had identified in their seminal work on the subject.
They found undecided voters view being informed about issues as
important a civic duty as the act of voting itself. Whether these
voters viewed themselves as being loyal to newspapers and television
news, or to “new” media outlets, which include talk radio, cable
network news, and the Internet, both groups felt the same
responsibility to become informed, in spite of the reputation of new
media audiences as mostly seeking to reinforce their beliefs, as
opposed to seeking information.
The
authors also examine how the growth of the media’s diversity in
outlets affects their ability to perform an agenda-setting
function. While the numbers of those who rely upon newspapers or
network television news are dropping, these voters are not tuning
out, but rather simply shifting to other media outlets for
information. They also found people who were actively seeking
information on a specific issue were more likely to use “new” media,
such as the Internet, to find information resources.
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