Sunday, October 26, 2008

Comm101-agenda setting theory

In chapter 28, the theory of agenda setting is discussed and how it relates to media.  Has anyone ever watched the news and try to  pay attention to the order of the stories that they report on?  Try to pay close attention to what they report on first because you have to wonder what has precedent over what story.  I noticed that the light hearted stories usually get cued at the very end of the program because it is easier to close the program with.  The usual stories are the really tragic ones because they are more important to report on  and then they transition into more informational reports and then maybe back to a tragic story again.  

I remember when we had the fires in southern California.  Every day there was  a report at the beginning of each news station's broadcast that told us about the progress of the containment by the firefighters.  After that, which makes sense, they interviewed some people who had to evacuate.  

When it comes to news stations, they have their choice in what to report and in what order to report it in.  But when something like a fire or murder or trial is the most popular event, each station knows better to get the news and information on that as fast as they can.  Its important for them to hold down a reputable image for he station.    Agenda setting is different for any media provider.  It just depends on the audience that its geared towards.

1 comment:

OneEightNine said...

I agree. It is all based around a target demographic. Believe it or not, they are selling us the news. Everytime a new story is presented, it is the pitch. "Here is something you should really be interested in because it really impacts your life..."
I worked at a community newspaper, and everytime a story was selected, they considered who read the paper on a demographic level. I am in my mid 20's and I wouldnt read the paper because the stories were, for the most part, for people in their late 50s-70s. They have different interests then I do. I think that when the mass-media, the nationally broadcasted stations have more of an opportunity to sell to a larger market, hense the amount of more viewers, readers or listeneres.