Running Head : Agenda Setting And The Public Relations Industry

It being the leading source of news since the printing press. We put our faith in the media to report accurate facts unbiasedly. Between 1983 and now the media industry has consolidated from 50 individual companies to 6. That means that though the impression given is that there are a multitude of sources to attain information, the messages being communicated are all one in the same. The limitation of media sources cause a ripple effect of limited information, allowing these companies to control the public’s perception on

The media is important for us the people to inform us about our government. In this paper I will show the relationship between the media and Congress. There are many forms of traditional media newspapers and magazines and TV news programs. Until recently people got most of their information and news from traditional sources. I would agree with scholars who argue that the media plays a major role as an agenda setter by focusing the public’s attention on a few issues. Public opinion is shaped in large part by people’s exposure to the media. There are two main areas of media agenda setting the first is reporting the news the second is telling us how to view the news.

Mass media is an ever-growing field where millions of people are connected at a constant basis. With that being said opinions and viewpoints are established on a daily basis through the media society reads. Many of these news media sources can be persuasive and have an influence on individual’s opinions. This concept is called framing. While it is related to the concept of agenda setting, framing focuses more on the issue at hand rather than on a particular topic. Framing is an important topic because of its major influence over the choices people make and how they process information. “Goffman stated that there are two distinctions within primary frameworks which are natural and social. Both play the role of helping individuals interpret

Public relations serve many positive functions, to radio and television announcements of school closings and community events, they make us aware of what is happening around us. This type of public relations is needed and benefits the public without personal hidden agendas. However, there is a darker side to public relations that seeks manipulate an unsuspecting audience for their own personal gain. It is this type of public relations that the film Toxic Sludge is Good for You is unraveling. Through use of every kind of media communication and technology, public relations firms have set out to convince people that what they are saying is good for us (Toxic Sludge is Good For You [video file] Access to Restricted Library Resources, n.d.).

The power and consequently the responsibility of media, especially mainstream, is something that shouldn’t be underestimated. It often sets the agenda amongst the general public and is the reference point for the majority of the discussion surrounding it. For many, what they see and read in the media forms the basis of their opinions on most important topics. Despite warnings not to, many believe that everything they read in the media must be true.

In today's society, agenda setting is prevalent too. An example could be our daily editions of The Straits Times. Whatever is on the front page of the broadsheet can already be seen as an act of agenda setting by the media. The front page of the newspaper is usually what people look at first as the most salient news are placed there. In turn, agendas are already set for the audience as the medium is telling them that whatever is on the front page is of importance, and because these issues are brought to the public's attention, they would automatically think and generate

The different types of bias that exist in different forms of media (i.e. radio, TV, newspapers, the internet) are selection bias, agenda setting, priming, and framing. These forms of bias allow the media to influence public opinion. Selection bias occurs when the media only reports on one aspect of an event or issue without providing coverage on other aspects. The media could report only particular issues and problems they believe should have more public attention through agenda setting. Agenda setting is similar to the other forms of bias, priming and framing. Priming involves calling attention to some issues while ignoring others, and framing allows the media to influence the public’s interpretation of them. Different forms of media have

The most recent definition of public relations, according to the Public Relations Society of America (2012), states that “Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Through the rapid advancement of modern media and technology, there have never been more outlets and opportunities available for accomplishing the goals of public relations. Believing the development of social media has not created serious changes in the way public relations practitioners go about their duties would be foolish and a fast track to falling behind in this rapid world of communication. The main goals of public relations are “to

Understanding the background and history of the Agenda Setting Theory is imperative to this analysis. Dr. Max McComb and Dr. Donald Shaw developed the Agenda Setting Theory in a study conducted during the 1968 presidential election (McCombs & Shaw, 1972, p. 178). This study describes how if an audience is exposed to the same media, they will place importance on the same issues. This theory strictly presents information and sets the terms of public discourse. At the time, this was a trailblazing new idea.

Another concept that has been more clarified in these last few chapters is agenda-setting theory which is defined as “the focus on how the mass media can influence the public by the way stories are presented in the news (p.389).” From my groups of friends, I have always had the idea that the media shows us what we want to believe. For example, more recently the news has been focusing on police brutality against certain races and age groups. Yet when a police officer or group of policemen save a person’s life or does something honorable it is not recognized through the media, because it is part of their job to do those things. My best friend is a police officer for the San Francisco police department, and he shares many stories that are never shown on the media. Such as when a dangerous drug dealer is convicted, there isn’t a headline of “Drug

Agenda-setting is one of the most important factors in shaping public opinion. Agenda-setting can be defined as the ability of the media to direct public attentions toward the issues they believe are important to the public. But whose choice is it that determines which issues are more important over others? The news media can set an agenda-setting by focus attention on selected issues on which the public will form opinions from (McCombs). The media can paint a memory in your head by repeatedly repeating the issues on different media sources as Internet, network televisions, newspapers, etc. Since these sources are the cheapest and easiest to access, the information can be view by vast number of audiences. As quoted in a 1922 classic called “Public Opinion” by Walter Lippmann,

How has media influenced public perception of political figures, issues, and institutions? Through agenda setting and framing, media has the power to set the agenda for political discussion by providing public attention to political figures, issues, and institutions. In addition, the media can frame political agendas by influencing public perception and interpretation. (Ginsberg, Lowi & Weir, 1999)

Media relations can be defined as one of the most significant areas of the practice of public relations. (Shaw&White, 2004) It enhances the practice of public relations by serving a systematic, strategized and mutually beneficial relationship between journalists and the public relations practitioners to build credibility, understanding and respect between the two parties. (Supa&Zoch, 2009) It is essential to cultivate a positive and healthy relationship between public relations practitioners and journalists because journalists tend to look at public relations practitioners in a negative way where they believe that they spin information to get free publicity which making it difficult for journalists to report legitimate news and at the same time, against the basic rules of news writing. (Fedler and DeLorme, 2002) Another study by Kiranjit and Halimahton (2006) also suggests that public relations practitioners and journalists are very much sceptical about each other’s role and the relationship between two of them is doubtful and uncertain. From the point of view of public relations practitioners, they complaint that journalists do not understand the role of public relations. On the other side, journalists tend to think that public relations

The research for this article was conducted within a framework of Framing theory. The theory was first put forward by a Canadian-American sociologist Erving Goffman. Media framing, to put it bluntly, is a term that points to a presence of a certain bias in any media outlets’ output. All choices made in a newsroom collectively form the frame through which media decides to show the world to the audiences. Everything matters: Covering one event and ignoring another, covering one event more than the other, deciding what words to use to cover an event, what photographs or video clips to include, whom to give a voice, etc. At the same time, framing theory goes far beyond newsroom policies. Framing is not necessarily a delibirate choice. Journalists themselves look at the world through frames: their education, upbringing, gender, ethnical background, knowledge of the issue, and so on. Audience members apply their own frames as well, not just to media content, but to everything they hear and see.

The 2000 Presidential Elections are upon us and who do we turn to for information regarding the candidates? What issues will be the hot topics for the election race? For that matter, what will be the hot topics in the media for next week? Just as this paper must be structured, organized, and center around a main idea, so must all information presented to an audience. Information can only be easily processed if it contains some kind of structure. This includes the information that is provided by the media. The media have to structure their ideas and stories on a daily, weekly, and even monthly basis. This process is known as agenda setting. Television, radio, and print medias all use agenda