Set me up.

*Lecture 10

The media has so much power that most people don't even notice. I didn't realise that agenda settings even existed, looking back now it becomes obvious that the media does have this power, but I don't think most of the public know of it. Agenda Setting was what this lecture was all about, and the idea that the media has the power to promote to the public what topics of the news is 'important'. Essentially what Agenda Setting is, is how much time an item of news has on the television/in the media, then the more perceived importance it has in the world.

'The media filters and shapes reality'

This scares me a little bit. The media portrays their view, their world, and their perception of what is important in the news and what they deem the public should be concerned about. Their opinion and view point are by effect, being transferred to the public.

Two levels of Agenda Settings was discussed in the lecture,

• Level One:
• What the public should focus on
• Level Two:
• How the people should think about an issue

And there are many methods in which the media does this, through covering stories (Agenda Cutting), filtering certain stories (Media Gate Keeping), trends in the media (Agenda Surfing) and other methods, the media is able to create a perceived notion of what is important in the news.

As Bruce says that this theory of agenda settings is fairly obvious, but only is when thought about. When looking back in the media, whenever a big event happens, the media apply the techniques and tell the public what is important. 

A big event or disaster can be an example of this. 9/11, Bali Bombings, the Queensland Floods, such events doominate the news at the time, with a clear importance being placed in the media. However, at the moment the ongoing agenda setting seen in the media is the Marriage Equality debate and same-sex couples in general. The front page of today's paper is a story on homophobia, top story on Brisbanetimes.com.au is the possibility that the LNP may overturn the same-sex civil unions in Queensland, one of the main stories on The Age's website is death threats to a 'pro-gay' politician. There is a clear setting of agenda in the media at the moment, and with such an issue there is cause for opinion to become evident in the stories. With such importance, and prominence marriage equality has in the media, the bias in the stories can influence, I try to recognize this bias when reading articles, to avoid being influenced by author opinion, but thing is, that's what agenda setting does, it influences, that's what the media does.