The Agenda Setting Function of Mass Media: My Summary and Response
The emergence of mass media changed a lot about the world and how we obtain and perceive information from it, and a major aspect of this is how the political landscape has been changed. Maxwell E. McCombs and Donal Shaw write in their 1972 journal about this change. They start by mentioning how political candidates now use mass media as a middleman for their campaign, rather than rallying more in person. McCombs and Shaw go on to assert that while mass media doesn't necessarily tell people what to think, the quantity of information tells them what to actually think about. Interviewing one hundred people who had not decided on a candidate to vote for, they found that they were much more open minded on issues with opinions subject to change. McCombs and Shaw put it succinctly that "the data suggest a very strong relationship between the emphasis placed on different campaign issues by the media and the judgments of voters as to the salience and importance of various campaign topics." In essence, the mass media sets the agenda, but not the opinion.
What came to my mind when reading about this article was the 2016 presidential election. I was in high school and found myself in social media spaces that were heavily conservative. When I came home from school, I could be certain my dad had Fox News on. And simply put, I was very fond of Trump. This wasn't because of many particular policies I agreed with- Trump just jumped everyone who opposed him, and it was genuinely entertaining. His criticisms of Clinton's private email server, or his moniker "Lying Ted" against Ted Cruz really put it into my head that he was a righteous man stepping above idiots for the good of America. Just like McCombs and Shaw's article, I was aware of the issues pertaining to the other candidates, but wasn't really told how or what to think. Trump's strategy of shining light on his opponent's misdeeds made him very likable in my eyes, which put me towards a more conservative headspace. Whether or not I have the same views today is irrelevant, but one thing is for sure- my selective media exposure to conservative content made me aware of conservative issues.
Relevant Articles:
Hillary Clinton: Trump is an ‘illegitimate president’ from CBS (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clinton-trump-is-an-illegitimate-president/2019/09/26/29195d5a-e099-11e9-b199-f638bf2c340f_story.html) A blatant example, this article relays Hillary Clinton's scathing of President Trump in regards to his campaign methods. It relays the issues at hand brought by Clinton without telling the reader what to think- but the reader is more likely to aim their pitchforks at Trump.
Effects of Mass and Interpersonal Communication on Breast Cancer Screening: Advancing Agenda-Setting Theory in Health Contexts from the Journal of Applied Communication Research (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00909880500420242) Discusses how mass media doesn't just set the agenda for politics, but can also apply to subjects like health. Women were more likely to get themselves checked for breast cancer when exposed to media and advertising relating to it, even if it didn't outright tell them "if middle aged and female, therefore breast cancer."
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