UNIT 2_ AGENDA SETTING THEORY Structure 2.0 Introduction 2.1 Learning Outcomes 2.2 Initial Debates 2.2.1 Walter Lippmann: Theory of Public Opinion 2.2.2. Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw 2.2.3 Cognitive Effects of Mass Communication 2.2.4 Issue-Attention Cycle 2.3. Core Concepts 2.3.1 Significance 2.3.2. Principles and Characteristies 23.3. Gatekeeping 24 KeyTheory 24.1 Conceptual Model and its Explanation 2.4.2 Agenda Setting Function of the Press 2.4.3 Strengths and Limitations 2.5 Related Concepts 2.5.1, Priming, Framing, and Public Opinion 2.5.2 Recent Developments 2.6 Let Us Sum Up 2.7 Further Readings 2.8 Check Your Progress: Possible Answers 2.0 _INTRODUCTION Agenda-Setting theory discusses the power of media to set the significance and priorities of issues and events in the mind of the public. This theory maintains that the media are more successful in telling people ‘what to think about’ than in telling them ‘what to think’ and over a period of time the very priorities accorded by media to issues become the public priorities as well. The term Agenda-setting was coined by Maxwell McCombs and Donald L. Shaw (1968) in the context of | lection campaign where politicians seek to convince voters about the party’s most important issues. They assert that agenda-setting “function of the media causes the correlation between the media and public ordering of priorities” (McCombs and Shaw, 1968). Agenda-setting theory further explains the reason behind the trend that some issues are treated with policy actions while other issues are not. The Unit provides a necessary path to study the theory. 2.1 _LEARNING OUTCOMES After reading this unit you should be able to: * discuss the history and development of Agenda setting theory; 1Sociological Theories 2 ‘describe the implications of media on users from the theorists” perspective; and ‘* analyse the implications of media on the consumers of media messages. 2.2 _ INITIAL DEBATES Various research studies have revealed that news broadcast on media plays an important role in setting a nation’s agenda and in concentrating public focus on a few vital issues. This theory claims that the characteristics of public matters which earned prominence in the media at a particular period of time turn out to be noticeable in public opinion. The power of media to set some persons, issues, and topics as the prominent of the time is called Agenda-setting of mass media The concept of this theory can be traced back to US presidential election 1968, when Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw used it as an alternative theory to examine how media influence the opinion of the people, especially in election processes. Both of them were Professors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and this case study of the 1968 US presidential election was later called the Chapel Hill studies which examined the link between the priority issues of the mass media and the priority issues of the public. Even though communication scholars, Maxwell McCombs, and Donald Shaw are usually associated with the phrase “agenda-setting function of the mass media” there is evidence for Plato discussing the issue of Agenda in his classic work, Republic. Wealso see the efforts of Machiavelli (1513), Hobbes (1651), Rousseau (1762) and Lippmann (1920) who discussed the nature and influence of public opinion over the decisions. Bryce (1888) in his study on newspapers and Walter Lippmann, in the early 20th century, discussed the relationships among the press, its readers, their opinions and public policy. 2.2.1 Walter Lippmann: Theory of Public Opinion Walter Lippmann, a pioneer in communication rescarch unveiled the Agenda- setting function of mass media, He was an influential newspaper columnist and Jongtime American presidential advisor. Well known for his 1922 book, Public Opinion in which he argued that average people are not capable of taking important decisions as they cannot perceive the happenings of the world. He said that discrepancies exist between, “the world outside and the pictures in our heads”. For example, information about government is given to us by a group of people that creates images in our mind and we make a public opinion on those issues that are given to us. Lippmann calls this ‘pseudo-environment’ and cites, an example of how gusty winds break window glass pane and the girl who watches this incident believes that it has signalled the imminent death of a relative. Lippmann observes a superstitious belief can make a person think illogically as s/he will relate the incidence to his/her belief than judging situation using the help ofan authentic messenger. Invariably, pscudo-environment ereates public opinion than factual experience, and ordinary people are prone to be vietims of this process, therefore leamed technocrats should decide on public affairs than ‘common people. According to him “mass media are the principal connection between (a) events that occur in the world and (b) the images of these events create in our minds” (James W, Dearing & Everett M. Rogers, 1997). Lippmann (1920) compared anordinary man to a deaf viewer sitting in the back row and is ignorant of what is happening in front of him. “He lives in a world he cannot see, does not understand, and is unable to direct.”(D. Stanley J. Baran & Dennis K. Davis, 1999). 2.2.2, Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw The term ‘Agenda-setting theory’ was further popularised by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw. Once the findings of the Chapel Hill studies appeared in 1972 ‘many other scholars continued research on various fields about the agenda-setting effects of mass media Based on Cohen’s (1963) idea that “the press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but itis stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about”, McCombs and Shaw (1972) hypothesised that “the ‘mass media set the agenda for each political campaign, influencing the salience of attitudes toward the political issues”, McCombs and Shaw, after relating the rank-ordered topics on the media agenda with the key topics of the day on the agenda of doubtful voters, came up to a conclusion that the media agenda was greatly correlated to that of the voters, thus gave proof of Agenda setting (i.e., first-level agenda setting). As a follow-up to the Chapel Hill study, Shaw and ‘McCombs (1977) presented the idea of an attribute agenda in which they argued that not only the media agenda but also object attributes have an agenda-setting effect, illustrating the influence of the attribute agenda in the news on the publi attribute agenda (i.e., second-level agenda setting), 2.2.3 Cognitive Effects of Mass Communication The influence of the news media in setting the agenda is not limited to the initial step of focusing public attention on a specific subject. The media also influence our understanding and view of the subjects in the news. The aim is to focus the media and the public’s attention on a specifi topic. In turn, each object has many attributes, and characteristics that describe the object. There is also an agenda of attributes because some attributes are emphasised when the media and the public think and talk about an object, others receive less attention and ‘many receive no attention at all. For each of these issues, the agenda of attributes presented by public figures or other objects literally influence the images themselves that we consider, Pictures of political candidates and other public figures held by the public are the most obvious examples of the setting of the agenda by the news media (Maxwell McCombs, 1998). 2.2.4 Issue-Attention Cycle From above discussion, it can be observed that through repetition media provides ccues to the public as to the relative importance of an issue. The similarity in the amount of media coverage given to an issue creates a consensus about an issue’s priority on the public agenda, As the cumulative number of media messages about an issue inereases over time, the public is persuaded to accept the importance of the issue, Slowly, the public agenda for an issue gathers importance and will melt away gradually (James W. Dearing & Everett M. Rogers, 1997). A news item draws public attention and sustains attention so drawn but it does not last Jong and public start losing interest in that issue after some time and both media and public demand new issues as itis no longer news for them, Media attention always keeps an issue alive but itis short-lived or long-term depends on public attention, Agenda - Setting Theory 23Sociological Theories 24 Cheek Your Progress 1 Note: 1) Use the space below for your answer. 2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit. 1) Write about Walter Lipman Theory of Public Opinion. 2) What were the main arguments of Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw? 2.3__ CORE CONCEPTS Agenda-setting is the phenomenon of the mass media in picking and representing certain issues repeatedly and importantly. The chief concept in the agenda-setting theory is the transfer of the importance of issues or how media emphasis on certain issues raises their importance for the public. (Maxwell McCombs, 2004). The process of setting an agenda happens primarily on two levels. First-level Agenda setting: Focus on the amount of coverage of an issue. It suggests that media is capable of deciding the list of issues that the public will be made aware of and it is media, which decides what the public should be made aware of, Second-level Agenda setting: Focus on the influence of attribute salience, or the properties, qualities, and individualities that describe objects or people in the news. It also discusses the tone in which these qualities are attributed. The attributes of second-level Agenda setting can be further categorised into two sections: substantive and affective. Substantive dimension focuses its attention towards issues like personality, ideology, and mapping of thoughts for a media house of a candidate. The mapping could also be on issues related to inflation, unemployment or something related to the economy. In simple words, mapping of the ideology of the subject with the mindset of the media house is expected here.On the other hand, the affective dimension focuses on the emotional qualities. According to the mapping of substantive dimension, the tone of the presenter is set. For example, a tone can be set towards a candidate’s leadership ability which could vary between positive to negative or remain neutral. “As in first- level research, second-level findings show that attributes of political candidates and issues emphasised in news coverage become the attributes emphasised by voters” (H. Denis Wu and Renita Coleman, 2014). 2.3.1 Significance Media creates dominant pictures of public affairs among the public. Agenda- setting shows that media can prioritise news and make the public accept that priority. The theory is significant for mass media as it uses this to guide public attention, debate, and public interest. It helps media to give long life to selected news stories to increase its reach, circulation/viewership, which ultimately helps in the increase in advertising revenue, Agenda-setting also helps in raising the importance of an issue from a public point of view that shapes public policy, and political decision-making. The sustained media interest in issues of great public importance can have an agenda-setting effect leading to public participation in the political process in social, political, or economic issues. With information overflow due to the technological revolution, a larger population can now access ‘media making Agenda- setting important and challenging. 2.3.2 Principles and Characteristics A common finding of numerous agenda-setting studies dating back to the original study by MeComb and Shaw is that at a given point, or over a certain period, different media play a similar salience on a set of issues. Real-world indicators are relatively unimportant in setting the media agenda. The agenda-setting process is one of social construction through which key individuals interpret clues from the media and from their environment to determine the salience of an issue. The position of an issue on the media agenda importantly determines that issue salience on the public agenda, When the media give heavy news coverage to an issue, the public usually responds according to the issue a higher salience on the public agenda. This relationship of the media agenda to the public agenda seems to hold under a wide variety of conditions, for a diversity of issues, and when explored with diverse research methods, (James W. Dearing & Everett M. Rog 1997) Using social media platforms desired changes may be implemented in the society since social networking sites are tools for public communication and have lowered the barrier to access for users, changing the role of traditional gatekeepers. Users sometimes become producers of information, but more importantly, information producers lose the monopoly on their information, Some studies focusing on the Internet have demonstrated how different online platforms could become the source of media agenda. However, these studies were mostly analysing the relationships between blogs and the traditional media agenda. For example, studies have shown that bloggers have an impact on what journalists choose to write about (Messner & Distaso, 2008; Wallsten, 2007). But at some point, these bloggers are part of the same clite group as journalists, therefore the discovered effect is similar to the previously existing intermediary agenda-setting in traditional media (Meraz, 2009; Hindman, 2008). Agenda - Setting Theory 25Sociological Theories 26 Activity-1 Take any recent case that has received dominant media attention to set an agenda and suggest what sources you would need to the media agenda, 2.3.3. Gatekeeping Gatekeeping is an editorial process of selecting news by controlling the flow of information from media to the public with an element of bias, As Lewin (1947) puts it, the concept of gatekeeping is by and large the ways in which information is circulated, or not circulated to the public. This filtering and selection of information consisted of the ‘gatekeepers’; elite newstoom producers and editors, selecting the stories that they deemed integral to their audience (White, 1950), Since scarcity played a large role in the collection of news, traditional media outlets were effectively given the power to direct the agenda of topics discussed among society (Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007). By selecting the information to disseminate and the order in which such information would be delivered, traditional mass media outlets would create a perceived hierarchy of importance to the stories presented, that mass audiences subliminally ascribe to world events (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). The gatekeepers of society play an important role and are in complete control of the information received by the public. The gatekeepers “are therefore also in control of how the public perceives the rest of society’s reaction to news stories” (Barzilai-Nahon, 2008). For example, the letters to the editor section of a newspaper, a section dedicated to voicing the views of the readers. All letters are submitted to the newspaper's headquarters, where the gatekeepers are able to filter through submissions and select only those that benefit their objectives (Burns, 2008). The technological revolution has exhibited a tremendous increase in the accessibility of the Internet among people, the dearth of information on issues which interest the public has largely been on the decline, According to Meraz, this abundance “has tuned the table on the gatekeeping and agenda-setting effects ‘of mass media on the public”. Furthermore, the researcher adds “with the creation of social media, user-generated content has empowered the public with the tools for becoming their own gatekeepers and agenda-setters of information”(Meraz, 2009). Today, traditional mass media outlets are just one part of the greater ecosystem of information disseminators and members of the audience play a role as ‘secondary gatekeepers’; individuals with an online following that are able to distribute information to an even smaller audience of people with similar interests to the so-called ‘secondary gatekeeper”. Check Your Progress 2 Note: 1) Use the space below for your answer. 2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit. 1) What are the levels of influence under the Agenda setting Theory”2) Define Gatekeeping 2.4 KEY THEORY Agenda-Setting is a conception that the media may be “unable to influence people what to think, but are quite adept at saying, people, what to think about’. The issues that the media cover become the issues that the public believes are important, including the subtopics among those issues, Several steps are reviewed in the agenda-setting research process: 1. The measure that issues are most important by the amount of coverage they receive in the news media, 2. Measure the public agenda of important issues with a survey, 3. Show that the media cause the public agenda, and 4, Assess agenda-setting implications 2.4.1 Conceptual Model and its Explanation Agenda- setting is a complex process in which media agenda, policy agenda and public agenda are involved and are interconnected with personal experience and interpersonal communication factors. On the other side, there are real-world indicators of the importance of an agenda issue. It is important to note that the agenda indicated here are area and time specific. The issues or agenda compete with other issues of the time to gain the attention of the media or people concemed who could be policy makers or the public. For example, if we take up the example of an increase in alcohol consumption among youth, the extent of consumption becomes important. Apart from the facts that are relevant, for media attention, the interest of the gatekeeper also plays an important role. The gatekeeper here could be the owner of the press or any person in authority who has the power of decision making such as the editor, reporter or even a marketing manager, 2.4.2 Agenda Setting Function of the Press Agenda- setting can be explained as “media's attempt to create and transfer salient issues into the public domain to enable the public to discuss, deliberate, or debate on the issues to make informed decisions”. The basic assumption of this theory is that the media over its production processes and gatekeeping roles adds importance to some socio-political issues while ignoring others of parallel importance, Malcolm McCombs and Donald Shaw argued that “the media makes certain political, economic, and social salient issues in the society and they may not be successful in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling what to think about”. (Bernard Cohen, 1963). This is so because, the press (news media in general) selects any a number of issues, topics, and events from its continuous surveillance of the environment to process and report daily as ‘the news’. Secondly, due to its space and time constraints towards selecting “newsworthy,” many issues and topies ean be ignored. Going by the Agenda - Setting Theory 27Sociological Theories 28 news value, the press assigns a particular position to the story, which is calculated in terms of time and space. Therefore, when the public reads/views today’s news reports, they will perceive the order of prominence as assigned by the press (Melvin L. DeFleur, 2010). 2.4.3. Strengths and Limitations The theory focuses its attention on two important things - the importance people give to the issue that matters to them and how media intends to treat that particular issue. Agenda-Setting theory being a dynamic theory provides explanations of the effects of media both at the macro and micto levels. The strengths of media Agenda-Setting are the power of predictions. When people are frequently exposed to the same media and similar content will probably make people accept opinions set by media. Fach medium has its own style of presenting the story that will enable them to grab the attention of viewers. It is media, which aligns the topi and decides about prioritising the issue, Irrespective of the select stories being highlighted or not in the newspaper, television as a media offer the spectators a ‘window’ for viewing the world from their perspective. Crities, however, argue that the evidence is insufficient to show a casual connection between various agendas of the media and the public (MeQuail, 1983) Media may alter the awareness, priorities, and salience to the thoughts to which people are attached, but cannot form or hide problems. The decision making ability of the gatekeepers is also questioned and for people who have already taken a decision, the effect of media may be weak. Check Your Progress 3 Note: 1) Use the space below for your answer. 2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit. 1) Explain the Conceptual Model of the Agenda Setting Theory. 2) Discuss the strengths and limitations of the Agenda Setting Theory.2.5 RELATED CONCEPTS Agenda- setting maintains that there is a strong correlation between the importance that mass media give on selected issues and the significance endorsed to these issues by mass audiences (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). The associated concepts of Agenda Setting are: Priming, Framing, and Public Opinion, 2.5.1 Priming, Framing, and Public Opinion Priming is considered as an extension of agenda setting. This is on the grounds that decisions and frame of mind development are straightforwardly corresponded with “the ease in which instances or associations could be brought to mind and by making some issues more salient in people's mind” (agenda setting), mass media can also form the considerations that people take into account when constructing judgments, For example: Decisions on Politicians. The process of priming does not unmistakably modify people feelings and convictions, but rather it can possibly impact the issues voters consider to be generally essential. Therefore, even when an issue is not of immediate concem, constant media attention given to the issue makes it an issue of prime importance, It enhances attention to an issue and influences people to decide on an issue of public importance. Largely, the Priming theory effect is seen more during elections as the public favour some issues and ignore others. Lead stories, breaking news, and such other news coverage create importance even for less important issues. Framing is part of the agenda-setting tradition that places a news story within ‘a field of meaning’. Media adds frames to news to make people accept and understand it in the way itis intended, The psychological roots of framing based on the experimental study by Kahneman and Tversky (1979, 1984) and the sociological foundations of framing were laid by Goffman (1974). Framing, therefore, is both a macro level and a micro level construct (Scheufele, 1999), ‘As a macro construct, “framing refers to modes of presentation that journalists and other communicators use to present information in a way that resonates with existing underlying schemas among their audience” (Shoemaker & Reese, 1996). In fact, framing, for them, is an essential tool to lessen the complication of an issue, given the restraints of their particular media related to news holes and airtime (Gans, 1979). Public Opinion is another important aspect of agenda-setting theory. Public opinion existed even during ancient days and refers to the public voice on issues of public interest. It hhows the conflict between public and government on some issues where winning public support becomes important. In a democracy, the public opinion prevails whether itis a price rise of commodities, environment, and communal issues. Public opinion is subject to the degree of independence enjoyed by the citizens, the rule of law, and the amount of public participation. According to agenda-setting theory, “the public perceives issues that receive the most media coverage to be those of greatest importance (McCombs and Shaw, 1972) and that will influence their opinion”. Research has proved that the public can organise concepts thematically and can retain only a limited number of considerations in their minds and when they are queried about issues or opinions, a response is generated, Agenda - Setting Theory 29Sociological Theories Public opinion is also discussed in the context of the Spiral of Silence effect. Itis a kind of third party opinion formation. It is a human tendency for us to think about what others think about an issue. Proposed by Elizabath Noelle-Neumann (1974), it says that people with minority opinion refrain from expressing it in public for fear of reprisal, therefore, allowing majority opinion to prevail. The silence of minority never forms the public opinion of an issue as itis in opposition to the majority view. The minority remains silent because of the fear of negative implications in the public domain. However, with new media, people with an unpopular opinion are also daring to express their opinion in media but its influence is debatable and more research will reveal the “Spiral of Silence Effect” on public opinion in the context of new media. 2.5.2. Recent Developments With the arrival of new communication technology, media has become a lot more customised and interactive. Even today, media has not lost its power to prioritise news and one can witness the importance of an issue either rises or falls depending on public attention drawn by the media. Griffin (2009) states, “The mass media have the ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda”. According to McQuail (2000), the theory contributes to the shaping of public perception of political and social reality. ‘The theory is criticised that the agenda influences are marginal and temporary but this will not make such effects less significant. The theory continues to be central to political communication and relevant in the present context. Media priorities of news hardly change but the audience will seek news as per their personal agenda is the new narrative on agenda setting, Media is not only vested with the power to create awareness of public issues but is also capable of giving frames to public agenda, ‘Check Your Progress 4 Note: 1) Use the space below for your answer. 2) Compare your answers with those given at the end of this unit. 1) What is Priming? 2) What is Framing?3) What is Public Opinion? Activity-2 Take a recent election which was extensively covered by the mainstream media. Identify some predictions being made. Analyse if these predictions were later found correct or not. 2.6 _LETUS SUM UP In this unit we examined various aspects related to the Agenda-Setting theory. We strated with Walter Lippmann’s Theory of Public Opinion who pioneered carly thinking about agenda setting. He emphasised the role of mass media in shaping public opinion, eventually setting the research tradition on agenda-setting, Maxwell McCombs and Donald L. Shaw (1968) found that the prominence of the news agenda was highly correlated to that of the voters, thus providing evidence of Agenda setting. They posited that the popular agenda of the media influence society and the agendas held by media are deemed to be important and the issues publicised by media gain importance among the public. Overa period of time, according to this theory, the very priorities accorded by media become the publie priorities as well. ‘The concept of gatekeeping was discussed in the unit which involves filtering and selecting the information for the audience. These ‘gate keepers’ could be any person in authority having decision making ability in a media organisation such as editors, reporters among others, We then examined the relative strengths and limitations of the theory and it was discussed that media has the power of predictions and when people are frequently exposed to the same media and similar content, it will probably make people accept opinions set by media. However, decision-making ability ofthe gatekeepers was considered a weakness of the theory. Media may alter the awareness, priorities, and salience to the thoughts to which people are attached but these influences are marginal and temporary. The new communication technology has led to audience fragmentation as they are accessing information from different devices and in different ways. The concepts of priming, framing and public opinion were also discussed and it was argued that media is not only vested with the power to create awareness of public issues but is also capable of giving frames to public agenda. Thus despite mitations, the theory continues to be central to political communication and relevant in the present context. Agenda - Setting Theory 31Sociological Theories 2.7__ FURTHER READINGS Dearing James W. and Rogers Everett M, Agenda-Setting, Sage Publications, 1996. DeFleur Melvin L, Mass Communication Theories: Explaining Origins, Processes, and Effects, Routledge, 2009. Griffin, Em. (2006). A first look at communication theory (6th ed.), New York, NY, US: McGraw-Hill. McCombs and Shaw, The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media, Public Opinion, Vol. 36, No, 2 (Summer, 1972), pp. 176-187, Andal N, Communication Theories and Models, Himalaya Publishing House, 2017. 2.8 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS: POSSIBLE ANSWERS Check Your Progress 1 1) Walter Lippmann was a scholar of propaganda and public opinion who pioneered early thinking about agenda-setting. He argued that the mass media are the principal connection between events that occur in the world and the images of these events in our heads. He emphasised the role of mass media in shaping public opinion, eventually setting the research tradition on agenda-setting. 2) McCombs and Shaw observed that the mass media set the agenda for each political campaign, influencing the salience of atitudes toward the political issues. By comparing the rank- ordered issues on the media agenda with the key issues of the day on the agenda of undecided voters, MeCombs and Shaw found that “the prominence of the news agenda was highly correlated to that of the voters, thus providing evidence of Agenda- setting. Check Your Progress 2 1) The process of setting an agenda happens primarily on two levels. At the First-level agenda-setting, there will be a focus on the volume of reporting of an issue, telling that the media choose what issues the public will be informed of. Second-level Agenda-setting: Focus on the influence of attribute salience, or the properties, qualities, and individualities that describe objects or people in the news. It also discusses the tone in which these qualities are attributed. Amongst the two levels the attributes of second- level Agenda- setting can be further categorised into two sections: substantive and affective 2) Gatekeeping is an editorial process of selecting news by controlling the flow of information from media to the public with an element of bias. This filtering and selection of information is done by gatekeepers who are newsroom producers and editors, selecting the stories that they deemed integral to their audience. The gatekeepers control information received bythe public and thus control how the public perceives the rest of society's reaction to news stories Check Your Progress 3 1) Agenda- setting is a complex process in which media agenda, policy agenda and public agenda are involved and are interconnected with personal experience and interpersonal communication factors. On the other side, there are real-world indicators of the importance of an agenda issue or event. The issues or agendas compete with other issues of the time to gain the attention of the media or people concerned who could be policy makers or the public. 2) Agenda-Setting theory being a dynamic theory provides explanations of the effects of media both at the macro and micro levels. The strengths of the Media Agenda-Setting are the power of predictions. When people are frequently exposed to the same media; similar content will probably make people accept opinions set by media. The decision-making ability of the gatekeepers can be a weakness of the theory, Media cannot create or conceal problems, however, media may alter the awareness, priorities, and salience to the thoughts to which people are attached. The effect is weakened with the people who have already taken a decision, Cheek Your Progress 4 1) Priming is a social psychology concept used in political communication to judge politicians by public opinion, People favour or ignore some politicians based on the priming effect of media, Priming is the result of a prior context ‘on the interpretation and retrieval of information, When news reporting of an issue gives that issue salience with the public, people may tend to favour politician, Priming is assumed as an extension of agenda setting. 2) According to the concept of Framing, news is shaped in a new field of meaning by journalists and the public are expected to see news in that context. It means media selecting some aspects of an issue and put forward that aspect as the important one which will result in emphasising a particular cause of some phenomena, Media adds frames to news and expects the public to understand news in that perspective. 3) Public Opinion is a dominant opinion (not numerical) of informed public who are aware of the issue and form an opinion based on media effect. According to agenda-setting theory, the public perceives issues that receive the most media coverage to be those of greatest importance and that will influence their opinion. Agenda - Setting Theory 33