Who decides what's newsworthy?

Within this week's lecture (week 5) the topic was Agenda Setting. The notions of last week's news values and agenda setting are very closely related to each other. Agenda setting was developed by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in 1972 (Lamb, 2012). Spring (2002) defines agenda setting as "the process whereby the mass media determine what we think and worry about".

Lamb (2012) also explains the Hypodermic Needle Model in the video below. An example of the hypodermic needle was the 2005 'Grand Theft Auto' Led Teen to Kill which introduced a negative perspective of television and video games toward children. 

There are two main types of Agenda Setting Theory, (1) first level agenda setting theory and (2) second level agenda setting theory. The first level suggests what the public should focus on through coverage, whilst the second level suggests how people should think about an issue. There are seven parts to the Agenda Setting 'Family':

1. Media Gate keeping
2. media Advocacy
3. Agenda Cutting
4. Agenda Surfing
5. The Diffusion of News
6. Portrayal of an Issue
7. Media Dependence

It is known that the media don't tell you what to think, but they do tell you what to think about. Examples of current newsworthy topics include crime, politics, poverty, welfare, entertainment and scandal, all of which impact either health, heart and the pocket. The stories are told in a way that tent to influence the audience's opinion, subtly or not. Through agenda setting, we are presented with a version of reality that reinforces: stereotypes, values and privileges. Does this mean that we as the public decide what is newsworthy?

Reference List

Lamb, B. [Brett Lamb]. (2012, August 21). The Hypodermic Needle Theory [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt5MjBlvGcY

Lamb, B. [Brett Lamb]. (2012, September 6). The Agenda Setting Function Theory [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7qf9gQpoF4

Spring, M. (2002). Agenda Setting. Retrieved from http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~johnca/spch100/7-4-agenda.htm