Glenda

I think the media's agenda setting works all too well on children (at least it did on me). Except it wasn't news I was watching; it was the Saturday morning line-up. After all, as a child I had a very high need for orientation. For some inexplicable reason, anything that the t.v. displayed from 6am to noon on Saturday had high relevance to me (including the color bars from 6-7). And as a child, anything dealing with growing up, being an adult or understanding the world around me touched a point of high uncertainty within my semi-hardened scull. As a result, Saturday morning t.v. had the power to tell me what to think about. I spent my play time acting out the characters from my favorite shows. I pleaded with my parents to provide me with whatever the commercials were peddling--sugar cereal, dolls with combable hair, sports cars. I wasn't picky. I dreamt Smurfs. I breathed Wonder Woman. I made wedding plans revolving around George of the Jungle. I thought about what the powers behind the television, based on their agenda, wanted me to think about. And, to be perfectly honest, I'm still a huge fan of Wonder Woman and dolls with combable hair.

Matt

I was taking the train downtown and picked up the Chicago Tribune with its front-page column by Bob Greene. He wrote about companies trying to get their employees to come in for New Year's Eve just in case Y2K damage control is needed. The companies are claiming that their midnight office parties will be the "in place" to usher in the new millenium. Greene compares all the whoopla about Y2K to what he calls "the cigar craze of a few years back:"

"You know in your heart there was no cigar craze, that ony your Uncle Izzy back in 1956 seemed to get a sensual jolt out of chomping cigars, but the cigar craze mantra was chanted so many times in the popular press that it began to seem almost true." (Oct. 31, Sec. A, pg. 2).

Kristy

I remember back in my freshman year of college when I was at Indiana University and Elian Gonzalas was in the news. It was on the cover of every Time and Newsweek magazine and newspaper I saw. I was taking Political Science then and we spent full classes discussing it. At one point, an exasperated student raised her hand and asked if we could talk about something else. The teacher gave her a strange look and finally said, "I know you are sick of talking about it, but it's news and we must discuss it."

After reading this chapter I realized the power of the media in telling us what to think about and discuss. People were tired of thinking about it, but since it was in the news, the teacher insisted it must be important. She didn't tell us we had to agree or disagree with any of it, but we at least had to think about it and discuss it. I wondered why at the time because it didn't seem to be affecting my life in anyway. But I thought about it a lot at the time because it was in the news and I think about what's in the news regardless of whether or not it is directly affecting me. I was curious about the situation and I also had to learn more for my class. I had a high "need for orientation."