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11th Edition

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Chapter 37Agenda-Setting Theory


Title:
Selma
Claim:
The media tell us what to think about; interest aggregations grab the attention of the news media, demanding center stage for their concerns.
Application:
When the police and white racists engage in violence against a peaceful protest for racial justice, television blasts the news to people across the United States. The media's coverage of the event forced people to think about an issue they may have previously ignored.
Cue Point:
Edmund Pettus bridge march scene
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
Spotlight
Claim:
The media tell people what to think about and how to think about it.
Application:
Spotlight tells the story of a Boston Globe reporting team investigating sex abuse within the Catholic church. In this scene, a reporter and editor debate whether to go public with the evidence they have now or wait until they have more. The reporter is particularly concerned that another paper will get the scoop first and report it badly, in a way that the Catholic church can use to push the story away. Those concerns reflect the first two levels of agenda-setting: The media tell us what to think about and how to think about it.
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Claim:
With framing, the media makes salient a dominant set of attributes regarding an attitude object.
Application:
The movie opens with the press not only revealing Spider-Man's identity; they are also telling the public what to think about Spider-Man, and Peter Parker feels powerless to stop that negative attention from the press.
Cue Point:
Up to 5:27
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
"Journalism After Watergate | All The President's Men Revisited", Discovery
Claim:
The media agenda is the list of issues emphasized by the news media at a given time.
Application:
In this clip, real life journalists reflect on the movie All the President's Men and the Watergate scandal that movie portrayed. The Watergate scandal, and the subsequent fallout that ended President Nixon's administration, was one of the most powerful moments in the history of American journalism. This video describes how the press kept Watergate at the center of public attention, and also reflects on how the news media cycle is much different today.
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
"How False News Can Spread - Noah Tavlin", TED-Ed
Claim:
Intermedia agenda-setting occurs when one new source influences the agenda of another. Fake news can set the agenda for news media.
Application:
This video reflects on the source and spread of fake news. One vehicle for such news is the intermedia agenda-setting network. Compare this to Chris Vargo's research reported in the chapter.
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
"Facebook Whistleblower on the Company's Algorithm", 60 Minutes
Claim:
Algorithmic gatekeepers are computer programs that decide which material appears in search engines, social media feeds, and elsewhere on the internet.
Application:
Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen criticizes Facebook's algorithmic gatekeeping. In the language of agenda-setting theory, she is critiquing both how interest aggregations use the algorithm to set the agenda and, even more, how the algorithm itself encourages that behavior. How does this connect to the critique section of the chapter, where the book suggests that agenda-setting theory doesn't adequately account for the role of algorithms? How might the theory need to change if it focused on algorithms more explicitly?
Discovered  By:
Andrew

Title:
"We Become What We Behold," an online game by Nicky Case
Claim:
The media tell us what to think about and make certain attributes of a media object salient.
Application:
This short online game is "a game about news cycles, vicious cycles, infinite cycles." How do you see the first and second levels of agenda-setting occur as the game goes on? (Content warning: There is some gore and violence at the end of the game.)
Discovered  By:
Logan Gibbs and Dr. Chip Stewart, Texas Christian University

Title:
"Blank Space", Taylor Swift, 1989
Claim:
Through framing, the media make certain attributes of a media object salient.
Application:
The whole song is a tongue-and-cheek critique of the second level of agenda-setting, and in this case, the subject of the media’s framing is Taylor Swift. At the time, the media framed her as a young woman who dated a series of men and, after the relationship was over, turned the story of the romance into songs (and profit). Here, Taylor rejects this boy-crazy image by embracing it, pretending it’s true to argue that it’s not.
Discovered  By:
Andrew


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