Abstract
The Agenda Setting Theory is an important aspect of communications because it explains how the media impacts the public’s way of thinking. As Public Relations practitioners, we must be aware of how our actions in the media affect people’s intake of news and general information. Agenda setting in the media is a powerful tool that PR professionals can use to maintain a favorable image for organizations they represent. Through press releases, conferences, and open statements, PR departments can influence public attention and opinion through the media. By understanding how agenda setting works, we are able to benefit in the area of public relations and can use techniques related to the theory throughout PR campaigns.
The purpose of this paper is to understand how agenda setting is useful in public relations campaigns as a method for representing an organization’s goodwill and displaying positive news events to publics. Agenda setting is often discussed in a negative manner because it addresses the idea that the media filters news and shapes people’s thoughts and opinions rather than simply echoing stories to the public. However, in the realm of public relations, there are benefits in agenda setting that allow agencies to easily connect with the public and send valuable information and messages to consumers. Although agenda setting can be difficult to study, there is reason to believe that communication with the public through media methods stays fresh in people’s minds and registers as an important piece of material. In this paper, not only will I be highlighting the basic components of the agenda setting theory, discussing how it can relate to public relations, and explaining ways in which PR professionals can use it to their advantage to send a positive message to their target audiences, but I will also reference applicable studies in the sphere of the agenda setting theory. As consumers of news media, we are a part of the general public that the media aims to influence on a daily basis. However, by looking at how the media impacts public opinion through their agenda setting strategies from an outside perspective, we will be able to determine how PR campaigns can use similar tactics to influence their own target audience’s opinions and beliefs.
What is Agenda Setting?
Without news media, people around the world would not know important stories and events that are taking place. Media sources such as television and radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and social media cover stories about various topics every day in order to spread information to the public. However, it is clear that not every story that occurs is explored by media sources, and that major news entities tend to pick and choose which stories are most important to broadcast to the public. This idea of picking and choosing what is important is the basis of the agenda setting theory. As defined by Alvernia University’s communications department, the theory “refers to how the media’s news coverage determines which issues become the focus of public attention.” Agenda setting was first studied by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in 1972. Shaw and McCombs were college professors that were conducting social science research in North Carolina during the 1968 presidential election. They were researching whether people’s opinions on what was the most critical issues connected with what news media was reporting as most important at the time. The results displayed that people were more likely to believe an issue was important when it was displayed in mass media.
The agenda setting theory assumes that media sources purposefully present stories and events that they want their audience to care about. “In the past 30 years, mass communication scholars have shown that the media are quite successful in influencing public awareness of topics (Waters 331).” The careful placement of certain ideas allows mass media to influence people and essentially shape their beliefs, thoughts, and values. The placement of importance on certain topics within the media is also related to the idea of framing, a subset of the agenda setting theory. Framing deals with how people attach significance to certain news. The media tends to frame news in a specific way that forces people to perceive the information from a particular perspective. For example, conflicts between nations are covered differently by the media outlets in each country because they present information in a positive or negative light based on the audience they are targeting.
Three Levels of Agenda Setting
With the expansion of the theory over years of research, agenda setting now rests on three separate levels. The first level considers how the media designates levels of importance to certain issues as a result of its coverage in the media. The second level of agenda setting focuses on explicit elements of the issue presented by the media. Finally, the third, most recent level examines how specific dimensions of the issue at hand are conveyed “in a tonal matter” (Waters 331-332). There have been plenty of studies that have proven the assertion that media prominence of certain issues lead to increased importance of the same issues in the eyes of the public. According to Waters, “Roberts (1992) found that voting behavior could be predicted based on the media’s coverage of election issues, and Sutherland and Galloway (1981) found an agenda-setting influence on the public’s purchasing behavior after viewing certain advertisements.” Quantitative data has also been collected over time revealing that agenda setting plays a role in all different areas across the United States. For example, “In Minneapolis, the correspondence between the media’s presentation of the economy and the salience of specific economic problems among the public was .81. For an environmental issue in Indiana, the degree of correspondence was .71 between the local newspaper’s presentation and the public’s views on the development of a large man-made lake” (Wu & Coleman 778). In these situations, data was measured for non-profit organizations’ ability to impact public opinion through media tactics, ultimately portraying how agenda setting can be used in PR campaigns.
Agenda Setting in PR
The agenda setting theory plays several roles in public relations. Not only is it crucial for PR departments to be able to accurately gauge public opinion about their organizations, but media is a huge part of PR professionals’ two-way communication with their target audiences. It is critical for organizations to be able to impact the thoughts and opinions of publics to maintain a positive reputation and stay on good terms with consumers. Public relations practitioners should understand how the agenda setting theory works because it can be used as a tactic to shift an audience’s focus to certain ideas and issues that a company wants people to consider. By using media to display topics in a positive manner, agenda setting states that people will be influenced to have a more positive outlook on the topic as well as the organization. Therefore, public relations practitioners can use this strategy not only to shift public opinion and focus to important ideas that are beneficial to the organization, but also work towards a more positive view of the organization as a whole.
It is clear that agenda setting can be used in virtually all facets of public relations. For non-profit organizations, shifting attention to important issues and displaying the issues in a positive light can help advance an organization’s agenda. “Bennett and Kottasz (2000) found that British citizens indicated that they were more likely to respond to crisis relief efforts when they learned about the assistance through the news media (Waters 332).” Since PR practitioners’ goals include keeping an organization’s efforts fresh in the minds of publics, maintaining a positive outlook on a company, and using media communications to influence public opinion, agenda setting is a great method to help accomplish these goals. As a PR student, it is important for me to understand this theory because it puts the impact of media outlets into perspective and conveys just how strong media tactics are in shifting focuses, thoughts, and beliefs in a way that can benefit a company’s long term efforts.
Agenda Setting in Sports Communications
Agenda setting theory can be useful with my job in sports communications because I can pick and choose which stories and releases will have the best effect on fans and develop media strategies to stimulate positive views of my organization by making the public think about a situation in a specific way. A campaign within the sports world that uses agenda setting to influence consumers and construct a positive overview of the company is “Equality” by Nike. The organization created a PR campaign to increase support for BLM protests across the United States, and featured NBA star Lebron James in an advertisement to appeal to sports fans and increase support for an important topic such as equality in the U.S. Another example includes the National Football League’s 2015 public relations campaign about domestic violence. The organization partnered with “No More” to send a message to fans about the importance of being aware of domestic violence. Since there have been several instances of NFL players being arrested for domestic violence charges, this campaign used agenda setting to promote the importance of an issue as big as domestic violence and represent the good will of the NFL.
Agenda setting is a critical part of public relations campaigns because it can be used to display news in a positive light and impact the beliefs and opinions of a target audience. The three levels of agenda setting influence public awareness of important messages and make people think about issues the way a company wants them to think about it. In PR, agenda setting allows agencies to communicate with the public in ways that are beneficial to the organization’s agenda. Not only does this strategy help PR departments to send valuable information to consumers that ultimately becomes their focus of attention, but the use of media methods to filter what the public sees can allow organizations to work towards a positive reputation and increased engagement.
References:
Richard D. Waters (2013) Tracing the Impact of Media Relations and Television Coverage on U.S. Charitable Relief Fundraising: An Application of Agenda-Setting Theory across Three Natural Disasters, Journal of Public Relations Research, 25:4, 329-346, DOI: 10.1080/1062726X.2013.806870
The Agenda-Setting Theory in Mass Communication | Alvernia Online. (2021). Retrieved 16 September 2021, from https://online.alvernia.edu/articles/agenda-setting-theory/
Wu, H. D., & Coleman, R. (2009). ADVANCING AGENDA-SETTING THEORY: THE COMPARATIVE STRENGTH AND NEW CONTINGENT CONDITIONS OF THE TWO LEVELS OF AGENDA-SETTING EFFECTS. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 86(4), 775-789. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/advancing-agenda-setting-theory-comparative/docview/216940500/se-2?accountid=13158