Agenda setting function of mass media

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0363-8111(77)80008-8Get rights and content

Public relations practitioners have long attempted to persuade publics through mass media campaigns. Social scientists, likewise, have searched for the most persuasive mix of messages and media. Most of this research, however, indicates that the media seldom change attitudes and behavior, and that persuasion is, therefore, an unrealistic objective for a media campaign.

Led by Maxwell McCombs, the author of this article, communication researchers have discovered a logical and more realistic effect of media: While the media do not tell people what to think, they tell people what to think about. That is, the media determine which issues—and which organizations—will be put on the public agenda for discussion. In this article, McCombs summarizes research on agenda-setting and then discusses its implications for public relations.

Footnotes (10)

  • Maxwell McCombs

    A Comparison of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Agendas of Public issues

  • Jack McLeod et al.

    Another Look at the Agenda-Setting Function of the Press

    Communication Research

    (1974)
    Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann

    Turbulences in the Climate of Opinion: Methodological Application of the Spiral of Silence Theory

    Public Opinion Quarterly

    (1977)
  • Donald Shaw et al.
  • Maxwell McCombs et al.

    The Expanding Domain of the Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Communication

    Donald Shaw et al.
  • Donald Shaw et al.
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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McComb holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communication Research from Stanford University, and is currently John Ben Snow Professor of Newspaper Research at Syracuse University.

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