Agenda-Setting
As early as 1922, newspaper columnist Walter Lippman reflected on the power
of the new media to present images to the public. Lippman believed the
experiences of the average person was limited and the media provided a
view of the outside world (1922). Long (1958) and Lang and Lang (1959)
asserted media power over what people talk about, think about, feel about
and the way problems should be dealt with. Political scientist Bernard
Cohen (1963, p. 13) summed up the early study of media agenda-setting succinctly
when he noted that the media "may not be successful much of the time in
telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling
people what to think about. Early research focused on attitude and behavior
change from media generated awareness and presentation of information and
found very limited influence (Infante, Rancer & Womack, 1997).
The seminal empirical study of agenda-setting theory was McCombs’ and Shaw’s
(1972) study of the mass media and its effect on public opinion during
the 1968 presidential campaign. Their focus was on awareness and information,
not attitude or behavior change. They assert those editorial decisions
by newspapers and broadcasters play an important role in shaping political
reality. Media observers not only learn about a given issue, but also how
much importance to attach to that issue. Importance is manifested through
the amount of information in a news story and its placement in the newspaper
or broadcast cycle. Therefore, in reporting what candidates are saying
during a campaign, mass media may well determine the important issues through
editorial decisions, thus setting the agenda (McCombs & Shaw, 1972).
Published nearly contemporaneously with McCombs and Shaw (1972) was a study
conducted by Funkhouser (1973) who looked at the relationship between public
opinion and media content. He conducted a content analysis of the three
major newsmagazines: Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report for
each year of the 1960s focusing on the major issues of the decade. Funkhouser
(1973) found a strong correlation between the issues the public thought
important and the issues the newsmagazines were giving coverage to. These
results were consistent with agenda-setting theory; however, the causal
direction was still a question. Perhaps it was the publics’ interests that
were setting the media agenda (Severin & Tankard, 1997).
The concept of "framing" developed in the early 1980s to describe how the
media can focus attention on an issue. Lang & Lang (1983) studied the
relationship between the press and public opinion during the Watergate
era and suggest that more complicated issues go through a process of agenda-building.
They find that putting the issue in a frame of reference over time, using
language that could be easily understood, gave the issue clarity to the
public at large. Finally, greater importance will be place on the issue
by the public if a well-known person discusses the issue (Lang & Lang,
1983).
Stone and McComb (1981) conducted a study to determine how long it takes
for media content to have an effect on the public’s awareness. They studied
public opinion data and media content over an extended time period and
show that a period of two to six months is necessary for issues to crystallize
from the media agenda to the public agenda. Other studies showed shorter
time spans but could have been affected by the importance of the issue
to the public (Winter & Eyal, 1980; Shoemaker, Wanta & Leggett,
1989). Understanding time span is important for public affairs professionals.
Public communications campaigns can be planned better if it is understood
how long it takes to raise an issue into public awareness Severin &
Tankard (1997).
Just who sets the media agenda and what makes it change? Westley (1976)
suggests that in some instances pressure from special interest groups can
elevate an issue onto the media agenda. Another influence is the effect
of elite media such as The New York Times on other media. Danielian and
Reese (1989) refer to this as intermedia agenda-setting. This process was
well-documented in Crouse’s The Boys on the Bus (1973) which document the
press coverage of the 1972 presidential election campaign. Reporters from
other news media looked over the s