Agenda-setting

Definition

Agenda-setting is the finding that the topics media cover most are the topics the public comes to rate as most important. It concerns what people think about, not what they think, and it is studied by comparing the volume of coverage with the public’s priorities.

In plain terms

The idea was tested in 1972 by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in a study of voters in one American town, who found a strong match between the topics the news emphasised and the topics undecided voters named as most important. Later work added a second level, how the attributes of a topic are presented (see Framing).

A match between coverage and public priorities does not by itself show which causes which: events can drive both, and media also follow what interests the public. Careful studies use timing (coverage first, opinion later) and controls.

Example

A synthetic month. Share of coverage by topic and share of respondents naming it the most important issue:

The two rankings match perfectly. That fits agenda-setting, but it does not show the direction: the same table would arise if the public’s concerns drove the coverage.

Common misunderstandings

• “The media tell people what to think.” The claim is narrower: they influence which topics people think about.
• “A correlation between coverage and opinion proves the effect.” Direction and common causes have to be examined.
• “The effect is the same for everyone and every topic.” It varies with the audience, the topic and how much people experience it directly.