Agenda Setting
theory
and research
Vlastimil Nečas
21/10/2015,The Effects of Mass Media, FSS MU
What are you most concerned about these days? What are the two or three
main things which you think decision-makers should concentrate on do
something about?
(McCombs, Shaw, 1972: 178)
Origins of the agenda-setting perspective
1922: Walter Lippmann – Public Opinion
When an individual desires information that is out of his personal experience,
he/she looks to the media to build „a trustworthy picture inside his head of
the world beyond his reach“.
(chapter 1: The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads, p. 18)
1963: Bernard Cohen – The Press and Foreign Policy
„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.“
(1963: 13)
Theoretical assumptions
1. News media do not reflect the real world, but they filter and shape it.
2. The focus of newsmedia on relatively few issues leads public to perceive these
issues as more important (salient). The more attention has the given issue in
the news, the more important it becomes on public agenda.
3. The character of media effects are rather cognitive than persuasive.
The Main Components of Agenda Setting
( Rogers, Dearing, 1996)
Types of Agenda Setting Research
1) Research perspective
a) hierarchical – more issues, short-time period; Chapel Hill Study (McCombs, Shaw, 1972)
b) longitudinal – one or only few issues, longer period; The Issues of the Sixties (Funkhouser, 1973)
2) The level of analysis
a) First level agenda-setting
- what issues are on the agenda?
- media and public agenda
- strictly quantitative methods (correlation analysis)
b) Second level agenda-setting
- how are issues set on the agenda?
- emphasized attributes and context
- quant. and qualit. methods (Framing analysis)
c) Intermedia agenda-setting
- who sets the media agenda?
- sociology of news, news production, routines, news sources, role of dominant media/news agencies
(Dearing, Rogers, 1996; Weaver, McCombs, Shaw 1998)
Chapel Hill Study
McCombs, M. E., Shaw, D. L. The agenda-setting function of the mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 1972, Vol. 36:
176-187.
Goal:
The role of mass media during the presidential election campaign in 1968.
Hypothesis:
„The mass media set the agenda for each political campaign, influencing the salience of
attitudes toward the political issues“ (p. 177)
Method:
„… to match what Chapel Hill voters said were key issues of the campaign with the actual
content of the mass media“ (p. 177)
Chapel Hill Study
news media
politics, parties and
candidates
quant. content analysis
5 dailies, 2 TV, 2 magazines
24 days before election
- issues and size
Survey using
questionnaire
Chapel Hill voters
Random choice of 100
„not-decided“
Chapel Hill Study
McCombs, M. E., Shaw, D. L. The agenda-setting function of the mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 1972, Vol. 36: 176-187.
Results:
„Considerable amount of campaign news was not devoted do discussion of the major political
issues but rather to analysis of the campaign itself.“ (p. 179)
„The media appear to have exerted a considerable impact on voters´ judgement of what they
considered the major issues of the campaign. The correlation (…) was +.967.“
(p. 180)
„High degree of consensus among the news media about the significant issues of the
campaign.“ (p. 183)
Correlation and Causality
For details see – Nečas, V., & Vochocová, L. Česká média a zahraniční politika: v hradním stínu a zajetí emocí/Czech Media and Foreign Policy: Emotions and Domestic Narratives.
Středoevropské Politické Studie/Central European Political Studies Review, 16(2-3), 2014 -. doi:10.5817/CEPSR.2014.23.137
Nečas, V.. Constitutional debate in the Czech Republic. Prague: Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, 2007. 43 s. Pražské sociálně vědní studie. Mediální řada, MED-011. ISSN
1801-5999. Avalilable at: http://publication.fsv.cuni.cz/publication.php?id=3770
Nečas, V. Constitutional debate in the Czech Republic. Central European Journal Of Communication, 2(2), 295-305. Retrieved from http://ptks.pl/cejc/list-of-issues/2009-2/volume-2-
no-2-3-fall-2009
Goal: main characteristics of foreign policy in the czech media
- identification of present actors and dominant topics
- foreign policy framing
analytical base
- debate on „euroconstitution“: czech dailies and magazines 6/2005-6/2007
- foreign news analysis: 3 tv stations, czech dailies and magazines 1/2008-12/2011
agenda-setting perspective
„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.“ (Cohen, 1963)
„This is especially true of international news events that happen beyond the direct experience of most news consumers.“
(Wanta, 1997)
Czech Media and Foreign Policy: Emotions and Domestic Narratives
Public/expert
s/NGOs/think
tanks
14%
Czech state
actors
78%
EU actors
8%
Media coverage of the debate on „Euroconstitution“
men 89%
women 11%
actors
1. Dominant position of national actors
(Czech male politicians)
President Vaclav Klaus
Active role, initiator
and commentator +
Passive role, brought in
the discourse by others
Strong oponnent of
the TCE project
„I am not critical about it, that is not the case. I am all against it.“
(Pravo, 15.1.2007)
„I am not for the European
anthem.“ (HN, 18.7.2005)
Actors
2. Entries of international and non-political actors were rare
and rather passive
- Angela Merkel
- José Barroso
- economic org.
- experts/think tanks
3. Strong gender disbalance
Women – 11 percent in total
Angela Merkel (45%)
debate on euroconstitution: conclusions
opponents of the TCE project
- Vaclav Klaus and ODS
representatives
supporters of the TCE project
- Jiri Paroubek and CSSD
representatives
X
discard the TCE project continuing in ratification or
Reform Treaty
X
•defense system (RADAR)
•CZ PRES
•CZE army missions
•CZE-EU relations
conclusions:
overlapping agenda - thematic homogeneity
strong personalization - overwhelming dominance of domestic
political actors
EU as a passive, anonymous and distant entity
Actors
a few elite actors
presented as irreconcilable opponents
personalization
negativity - competition/war language
Frames - "big narratives"
specific position of Russia - ally or enemy?
bipolar division of the world - USA vs. Russia
dependant nations seeking protection - Czech Republic among them (either protected by the USA or ruled
by Russia)
Symbolic discourse – historical parallels
1938 - („Munich betrayal“)
- USA as a traitor; betrayed Europe, Czech Republic; Russian threat as a direct result
Qualitative analyses of the Czech printed news media in 2009-2011
Frames
"domestication" of foreign policy events
= questions of global security and EU topics related to
domestic policy and the interests of Czech political
actors
Symbolic discourse – historical parallels:
1948, 1968, the 50´s
„The atmosphere is evil, it reminds us of the early 50´s. It
is the atmosphere of February 1948, the Left rising to
power, the Right doing anything to make it happen."
Mladá fronta DNES, 24.3.2009
Czech Media and Foreign Policy: Emotions
and Domestic Narratives
The tendencies of Czech news media in dealing with foreign policy issues.
- the coverage is highly personalised and viewed through the prism of the
personal or political interests of Czech political elites and the conflicts
between them.
- the Czech media produce a considerably restricted and more or less
uniform stream of news commented upon by a relatively limited spectrum
of actors, mainly Czech politicians.
- For non-political, non-governmental, and international actors, access to the
debate is considerably limited.
- The print media tends to present major political events as power-based
conflicts between individuals or groups, rather than as negotiations about
public affairs supported by substantive arguments.
thank you for your attention...
vlastimil.necas@fsv.cuni.cz
references:
Brosius, H., Weimann, G. Who Sets the Agenda? : Agenda-Setting as a Two-Step Flow. Communication Research, 1996, 23 (5), p. 561 – 580.
Cohen, Bernard C. The Press and Foreign Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963
Dearing, J., Rogers, E. Agenda-Setting. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 1996, 138 p. ISBN 0-7619-0563-4.
Funkhouser, G. The Issues of the Sixties: An Exploratory Study in the Dynamics of Public Opinion. Public Opinion Quarterly, 1973 (37), 62-75
Lippmann, W. Public Opinion. The Macmillan Company, New York [1922] 1960, 427 p.
McCombs, M. E., Shaw, D. L. The agenda-setting function of the mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 1972, (36), 176-187.
Nečas, V.. Constitutional debate in the Czech Republic. Prague: Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, 2007. 43 s. Pražské sociálně vědní studie. Mediální
řada, MED-011. ISSN 1801-5999. Avalilable at: http://publication.fsv.cuni.cz/publication.php?id=3770
Nečas, V. Constitutional debate in the Czech Republic. Central European Journal Of Communication, 2(2), 295-305. Retrieved from http://ptks.pl/cejc/list-of-
issues/2009-2/volume-2-no-2-3-fall-2009
Nečas, V., & Vochocová, L. Česká média a zahraniční politika: v hradním stínu a zajetí emocí/Czech Media and Foreign Policy: Emotions and Domestic Narratives.
Středoevropské Politické Studie/Central European Political Studies Review, 16(2-3), 2014 -. doi:10.5817/CEPSR.2014.23.137
Shaw, D., McCombs, M. (eds.) The Emergence of American Political Issues: The Agenda-Setting Function of the Press. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1977, 211 p.,
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Shoemaker, P. Communication campaigns about drugs: government, media, and the public. Hillsdale: L. Erlbaum Associates, 1989, 127 p. ISBN 0-8058-0230-4.
Wanta, W. The Public and the National Agenda: How People Learn about Important Issues. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997
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wie die Menschen darin leben. Opladen/Wiesbaden: Westdeutsche Verlag GmbH. 1998, 286 p., ISBN: 978-3531131030