Agenda Setting Theory

History and Orientation

Agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media – the ability to tell us what issues are important. As far back as 1922, the newspaper columnist Walter Lippman was concerned that the media had the power to present images to the public. McCombs and Shaw investigated presidential campaigns in 1968, 1972 and 1976. In the research done in 1968 they focused on two elements: awareness and information. Investigating the agenda-setting function of the mass media, they attempted to assess the relationship between what voters in one community said were important issues and the actual content of the media messages used during the campaign. McCombs and Shaw concluded that the mass media exerted a significant influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign.

Core Assumptions and Statements

Core: Agenda-setting is the creation of public awareness and concern of salient issues by the news media. Two basis assumptions underlie most research on agenda-setting: (1) the press and the media do not reflect reality; they filter and shape it; (2) media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues. One of the most critical aspects in the concept of an agenda-setting role of mass communication is the time frame for this phenomenon. In addition, different media have different agenda-setting potential. Agenda-setting theory seems quite appropriate to help us understand the pervasive role of the media (for example on political communication systems).

Statement: Bernard Cohen (1963) stated: “The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about.”

Conceptual Model

Agenda-setting

Source: McQuail & Windahl (1993)

Favorite Methods

Content-analysis of media, interviews of audiences.

Scope and Application

Just as McCombs and Shaw expanded their focus, other researchers have extended investigations of agenda setting to issues including history, advertising, foreign, and medical news.

Example

McCombs and Shaw focused on the two elements: awareness and information. Investigating the agenda-setting function of the mass media in the 1968 presidential campaign, they attempted to assess the relationship between what voters in one community said were important issues and the actual content of media messages used during the campaign. McCombs and Shaw concluded that the mass media exerted a significant influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign.

sekedar berbagi info kawand.....

:-)

people in Mexico are now believed to have swine flu

The World Health Organization raised its global pandemic flu alert level on Monday while recommending that borders not be closed nor travel bans imposed. But in a possible precaution to be taken by other nations, Japan said Tuesday it would no longer allow Mexican travelers to obtain a visa upon arrival.

Health officers at three Japanese airports also were being deployed Tuesday to check passengers before they disembarked from flights coming from Mexico, Canada and the United States. Travelers suspected of having the flu would be quarantined and examined further at medical facilities, news agencies reported, citing the Japanese health minister.At least eight other countries in Asia were checking air passengers arriving from North America, and China was tightening land border checks as well. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Russia were set to quarantine passengers suspected of having the flu.On Monday, Indonesia banned all pork products coming from Canada, the United States and Mexico, and said it would destroy any pork products imported before the ban. International health experts said the flu cannot be transmitted from pigs or from eating properly handled pork.

Russia and South Korea each reported a suspected case of swine flu on Tuesday. Tests were ongoing, and South Korea raised its domestic alert level.Two people in Scotland — the first known victims of the virus in Britain — were said by hospital authorities on Tuesday to be recovering after contracting the flu while on honeymoon in Cancún, Mexico. But the British authorities warned against nonessential travel and suggested that British citizens in Mexico should consider leaving.In an advisory on Tuesday, the British Foreign Office said: “We are now advising against all but essential travel to Mexico. Routine consular and all visa services at the embassy in Mexico City have been suspended until further notice.” It added: “British nationals resident in or visiting Mexico may wish to consider whether they should remain in Mexico at this time.”

France also advised its nationals Tuesday to avoid nonessential travel.

The increase of the W.H.O. alert to Level 4 from Level 3 means that there has been sustained human-to-human transmission. The change “indicates that the likelihood of a pandemic has increased, but not that a pandemic is inevitable,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, the W.H.O. director general.

The W.H.O.’s emergency committee, after meeting until 10:30 p.m. in Geneva, recommended abandoning efforts to contain the flu’s spread.

“Because the virus is already quite widespread in different locations, containment is not a feasible option,” said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the deputy director general.

The W.H.O. also recommended that vaccine makers keep making the seasonal flu vaccine instead of switching over to a new one that matches the swine flu strain, but it urged them to start the process of picking a pandemic strain, weakening it and making large batches of it, which could take six months.

Dr. Fukuda emphasized that the committee thought that “a pandemic is not inevitable — the situation is fluid and will continue to evolve.”

"WATCHING TV",acaranya mendidik pa gak ya...???

Peran media dalam pendidikan budi pekerti adalah pekerjaan yang sangat mulia, seiring perkembangan jaman,kehadiran media sebagai sarana yang mampu membangun peradaban umat manusia.

Ketika globalisasi memasuki semua segi kehidupan,media,ekonomi,politik,bahkan sistem pemikiran,yang membawa implikasi terhadap makin terbukanya masyarakat tradisional menjadi masyarakat modern.

Perkembangan media yang begitu pesat terutama televisi atau media audio visual lainnya,membuahkan pekerjaan rumah yang rumit pula,persaingan antar kaum kapitalis tak jarang mengesampingkan nilai-nilai budi pekerti, demi sebuah “rating”,yang menjadi kiblat para kapitalis media.

Tuntutan kaum-kaum intelektual negeri seperti tak pernah di abaikan bahkan mereka berdalih dan memutar balikkan hukum sebagai dasar yang kuat,sebagai pegangan yang membuat leluasa ide-ide tak medidik menggrogoti moral bangsa.

Tak banyak yang selektif dalam menilai sajian sebuah media,dan tak banyak pula yang peduli dengan pengaruh-pengaruh yang meresapi secara perlahan mengubah kepribadian,watak,akal dan pikiran generasi bangsa ini.

Beberapa tayangan televisi yang sedang trend di gandrungi saat ini,diantaranya:temehek-mehek (transtv),orang ke 3,cinta lokasi,kontak jodoh(sctv),hubungan tanpa status,mata-mata,bukan empat mata,sergap,buser,patroli,bahkan infotainment yang menginspirasi seseorang menjadi berprasangka,menduga-duga,

Padahal telah diatur UU jam tayang ,sehingga tak berdampak buruk bagi perkembangan anak-anak khususnya,penelitian terakhir menemukan setiap anak didesa bahkan dikota sekalipun mampu mengkonsumsi televise 5-6 jam sehari,termasuk kategori heavy viewer menurut standar amerika.

Anak-anak dengan mudahnya bertindak keras,cabulpencurian,pemerkosaan,bunuh diri,dan segala macam bentuk tindakan tidak beradab lainnya.

Jadi media audivisual(tv) ternyata benar—benar telah menjadi situs penggelendangan pikiran anak-anak khususnya,menjadi medium ekspresi berwisata pikiran dan emosi sekaligus sarana memuaskan spiritualitas mereka.

Memang,media sekarang berada dalam situasi budaya yang berbeda dari sebelumnya,acar tetap eksis,media lebih memilih berwajah ganda.

Di satu sisi ia bermuka sebagai institusi budaya dan disisi lain sebagai intitusi ekonomi.sebagai institusi budaya,media berarti tetap menjalankan kewajibannya mendidik warga dalam kerangka membentuk peradaban kea rah yang lebih baik.

Sementara sebagai institusi ekonomi berarti media berusaha mendapatkan keuntungan dari sejumlah investasi.

Pilihan berwajah ganda itu adalah suatu keharusan dalam alam global-industrial,media berada dalam tarik menarik tiga entitas:Negara,pasar,dan civilsociety.

Terhadap tarik-menarik itu,haluan media kemudian terbelah menjadi tiga,yakni ada media yang berhaluan liberalis klasik,liberalis modern, dan jalan tengah.

giestealth/2009