Canonical · Media Theory & Information · Paper

Agenda-Setting Theory

Maxwell McCombs & Donald Shaw · 1972

"McCombs and Shaw showed media may not tell you what to think, but it decisively tells you what to think about — the correlation between media agenda and public agenda is among the most replicated findings in communication science."

The idea

During the 1968 Chapel Hill election, McCombs and Shaw asked undecided voters what mattered most. The ranked list almost perfectly matched the ranked coverage of the local paper, not the reality outside it.

Why it works

The takeaway — recall it first

Manufacturing Consent

"Chomsky and Herman argued mass media pass through five filters — ownership, advertising, sourcing, flak, and ideology — that systematically shape which stories survive to publication without any central conspiracy needing to give orders."

Noam Chomsky & Edward Herman · BookContinue→