Elon Musk and Twitter – Agenda Setting and Framing
Elon Musk in his recent purchase of the social media app, Twitter, has been trending since the end of 2022. The media has portrayed Musk in many different lights throughout his career. Musk has been a topic of discussion with his decisions to fire two-thirds of the company and reinstating users, Donald Trump, Jordan Peterson, Andrew Tate, Kanye West, and other controversial public figures. “Musk, a self proclaimed Free Speech absolutist,” states CBS. The public opinion has noticeably changed from the eco-friendly Tesla CEO and Space X founder in which he was known for. I believe we can see Agenda Setting and Framing tactics by the media to portray Musk in a different light because of his opposition to the mainstream media.
The Meaning of Agenda Setting and Framing
Agenda setting is defined as “ability (of the news media) to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public agenda“. (McCombs) The media is able to establish a hierarchy of news prevalence. The theory suggests there is a media agenda, public agenda, and a reality behind every issue. “We look to the media to focus our attention; therefore media does not tell us what to think rather the media tells us what to think about.” (From calleno16 under Standard YouTube License)
Articles
The article I chose to analyze as an example of Agenda Setting is “Elon Musk and Twitter: Is he in over his head?” by Luke Burbank, CBS. Burbank reports that Musk’s goal to create a “public square” where people of all different backgrounds can voice their opinion has come at an expense of increasing hate speech on the app in the first months.
Another example where a media outlet is taking a stance and able to frame the pressing issue of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is seen in Time’s article, The Media Is Making the Same Mistakes with Musk That It Did with Trump by Roger McNamee. The beginning of the opinion piece, McNamee states, “the world of journalism is obsessed with Elon Musk.” Then, the article covers Musk’s actions of suspending and reinstating journalists that he “claim(es) that (Journalists) endangered him and his family by revealing locations in real time.” McNamee makes claims that any journalists that take Musk’s actions seriously are making a terrible mistake. As well, McNamee explains, the outcry towards Musk’s decisions is similar to the media’s “mistakes” in covering former President Trump. McNamee says “Like Donald Trump, Elon Musk does not respect journalists.” He elaborates in his beliefs that Musk craves attention and begins to go off about Silicon Valley Billionaires “who believe democracy is obsolete and that a free press undermines technological progress.”
In my personal perspective, McNamee’s claims and emotional attacks at Musk are hypocritical. It is hypocritical in the fact he is claiming journalists should not give Musk any coverage but yet he is journaling about Musk’s actions. Moreover, there is a link to another Times article covering Musk in the middle of his rash opinions. Musk’s goal to create a free speech town square-esque platform seems as something McNamee would appreciate.
Conclusion
The objective of my blog is to point out the Agenda Setting that is seen through media sites and news outlets. The decision making by news outlets is not by accident is shown through the examples I have given. The public deserves to be able to make opinions based on facts and decide based on personal beliefs.
Burbank, Luke. “Elon Musk and Twitter: Is He in over His Head?” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 4 Dec. 2022, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-and-twitter-is-he-in-over-his-head/.
Calleno16. “Agenda Setting Theory.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Jan. 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGHXJmsqRVE.
CBS. “Correspondent Rita Braver at the Offices of Zip2 with Elon Musk, Who Was Its Chief Engineer and Co-Founder, in 1998. CBS NEWS.” Elon Musk and Twitter: Is He in over His Head?, 4 Dec. 2022, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-and-twitter-is-he-in-over-his-head/.
McCombs, M; Reynolds, A (2002). “News influence on our pictures of the world”. Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research.
McNamee, Roger, and Zucked: Waking up to the Facebook Catastrophe. “The Media Is Treating Musk like It Treated Trump.” Time, Time, 19 Dec. 2022, https://time.com/6242268/twitter-elon-musk-media-coverage/.
Hi Salvatore,
I find the influence of the media on agenda setting to be a large impactful occurrence that is seen on a daily basis portrayed and demonstrated by large media enterprises such as Twitter. The impact that they have on daily news and updates is significant. More so, not only are they able to impact live news updates on just about anything across the globe occurring but they are also able to help monitor and influence elections in the United States. Large media companies such as those of Fox News, BBC, BCN, and CNN influence the direction of elections every term for the presidency. Most companies will post live updates on the polling process, expose potential candidates, and provide information both of factuality and falseness on a candidates progress.