agendaSetting

Agenda-setting is a communication theory that explains how the prominence given to certain topics by news and other information sources can shape the public’s perception of what issues are important. The core claim is that the more attention an issue receives in the media, the more likely the public is to rank it as a priority, regardless of the issue’s intrinsic importance. This theory distinguishes itself from framing, which concerns how issues are presented and interpreted rather than how salient they are.

The concept originated with researchers Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in 1968, following the U.S. presidential election. Their Chapel Hill study found a strong association between the emphasis in newspaper coverage and the public’s concerns. Subsequent work broadened the framework to “second-level” agenda-setting, or attribute agenda-setting, which looks at how the media shape the attributes or evaluations associated with an issue (for example, causation, severity, or solutions).

Mechanisms involve gatekeeping by journalists and editors who decide what to cover, how much space to allocate, and where to place stories. Audiences, in turn, derive perceptions of issue importance from exposure and attention, while public concern can influence policy agendas and elite priorities, creating a dynamic interaction among media, public, and policymakers.

In the digital era, social media and algorithmic curation complicate the process, introducing multiple, competing agendas and varying effects across audiences and contexts. The theory remains influential for understanding media influence on public discourse, though its strength and mechanisms are often debated and refined in light of new communication technologies.