"Newspapers and television news, even the tightly edited pages of a tabloid paper or internet web site do considerably more than signal the existence of major events and issues."
That comes from McCombs's article on media's agenda setting role.
Of course they do more. They tell us how to think about these prominent news issues. The media is not only responsible for telling us what to pay attention to; it analyzes these issues and even helps the public form an understanding and even an opinion on a particular topic in the news.
"Throughout their day by day selection and display of the news, editors and news directors focus our attention and influence, our perceptions of what are the most important issues of the day. This ability to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda has come to be called the agenda setting role of the news media."
It's frightening and realistic all at the same time. The reality of the amount of power the media has over what and how we think is incredible, but it's also how democracy works. The purpose of the media are to keep the public informed. They are the gatekeepers. With a world as vast as ours, gatekeepers and information providers are necessary.
The theory of agenda setting may seem scary at first, but it makes sense. What else can we do? We are not capable of investigating every part of this world ourselves.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment