CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Theories of Media and Society

Agenda Setting Function

Authors: McCombs & Shaw: 1967 Presidential election

Main (original) idea: Media influence what we think about—not what we think!

Not persuasion—but importance of issues

Agenda Setting Theory:The Core Proposition

Agenda setting is the “process whereby the news media lead the public in assigning importance to various public issues” by giving more space and time to an issue.

Agenda Setting Theory(1970’s)

Types of agendas: Media agenda (topics covered by

media) Public agenda (topics public

believes to be important) Policy agenda (issues that decision

makers believe are important) Agenda Setting Theory in the comm.

discipline has concentrated on the relationship between the media agenda and the public agenda

Figure 15.1

Public Agend

a

PolicyAgenda

Media Agenda

Gatekeepers, influential media, spectacular news events

Personal exper. & comm. among elites and other individuals

Real world indicators of the importance of an agenda issue or event

Agenda Setting Theory

The researchers first conducted a content analysis of newspaper and television coverage of the campaign

The researchers then interviewed undecided voters about what issues were important (time-lag study)

These two agendas (media and public) were virtually identical, with media focus preceding public focus

Example ASF study: time-lag study

Agenda Setting Theory:Establishing Causality

The correlation found between the media agenda and the public agenda could be interpreted two ways

Does the media agenda cause the public agenda, or vice versa?

Further research suggests that the major causal direction is from media to public (though there is some “mutual” influence)

Agenda Setting Theory:Theoretical Developments

Contingency factors Audience need for orientation

high interest in issue and high uncertaintyAlso education level and political interest

Issue Obtrusiveness more obtrusive if audience has

experience with issue and less obtrusive (unobtrusive) if not

media effects greater for unobtrusive issues

Agenda Setting Theory:Theoretical Developments

Contingency factors How do types of Media

influence public agenda? newspaper vs. television

Broadcast quicker influence; print longer lasting

But very complex issue

Agenda Setting Theory:Theoretical Developments

Second-Level Agenda Setting First-level agenda setting--the

issues (objects) in the media Second-level agenda setting tells

audience what to think about these issues Framing--process through which

media emphasize some aspects of reality and downplay others creating interpretive schema (e.g., by subtopics, placement, tone, narrative form, details, etc.)

Agenda Setting Theory:Theoretical Developments

Psychological mechanism

Priming effects of previous

context on retrieval and interpretation of subsequent information

particularly when it is ambiguous

Spiral of Silence Theory

Spiral of Silence Theory (SOS) was developed by Noelle-Neumann as an “all-encompassing” theory of public opinion (began with her affiliation to Nazi party in the 1930s and 1940s—Americans’ view of Germans)

SOS relates several levels of analysis: psychological processes, interpersonal communication, and mass media

Spiral of Silence Theory:Key Concepts (Tenants Tenets of Theory)

People have a fear of isolation Individuals also assess the nature

of public opinion through a quasi-statistical sense which is influenced (biased) by media’s constant presence.

When individuals believe public opinion is against them, they will thus be unwilling to speak out

The Train Test

MediaFriends, Family

Fear of Isolation

Silence regarding “public opinion”

View of Public Attitude

Spiral of Silence

4 aspects of media: Ubiquity

(pervasiveness)

Consonance (coherence)

Cumulative

Accessible

Spiral of Silence Theory:The Spiral Process

As these three factors work together, public opinion will spiral down and reflect dominant perceptions

The spiral of silence will be mitigated by several factors: The spiral only applies to moral issues

“Hard core” advocates will always speak

The educated and affluent will more often speak

Spiral of Silence Theory:Evidence and Extensions

Evidence for SOS has been relatively weak; thus extensions have been proposed

First, some suggest that the spiral of silence will work only with regard to valued reference groups

Second, some have looked at other factors that will predict an individual’s willingness to “speak out”—e.g., self-efficacy

Has been critiqued for assumptions that media are liberal and people are powerless

Media & World ViewCultivation Theory (or Analysis)

Author: George Gerbner:

Background: National Commission on

the Causes & Prevention of Violence (1967)

Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior (1972)

Cultural Indicators Project/Cultural Environment Movement

Main Point: Media creates (cultivates) in audience a way of seeing the world

Cultivation Theory(Gerbner—advent of television)

CT concentrates on one medium: Television

CT considers the ways in which television influences our socially constructed views of reality (not just topics or issues)

What about video games?

Cultivation Theory

Assumptions about the Nature of Viewing We do not watch particular shows

or genres of shows, but we view by the clock

TV becomes like a “member of the family,” like a “religion” (heavy v. light viewers, the ‘TV type’)

Do you agree with Gerbner et al.’s claim from 1986 that although television has changed since the 1950’s, these assumptions still hold?

Cultivation Theory:The Cultivation Effect

Given these assumptions about television and viewing:

Cultivation describes the long-term and cumulative impact of television on our views of reality—the nature of the world and people within that world.

Cultivation Theory:Methods for Testing

Content Analysis: The “television world” is assessed through content analysis (e.g., ethnic groups, crimes, etc.)

Cultural Indicators: Viewers’ perceptions of the world are assessed through survey

In comparing light viewers with heavy viewers, researchers find that heavy viewers’ perceptions of reality are most in line with the “television world” view

Cultivation Theory

Key Terms: Violence: Any actual

or threat of physical harm

Violence Index: Analysis of week of violence

“Ice-age analogy” (cumulative effect)

Mean World Syndrome: Belief that the world is a “mean and scary place”

Cultivation Theory

Violence in the media Prime time crime

10x that in real world (1982)

8K murders, 100K acts of violence by end of elementary school

13K deaths by end of High School

2/3 characters involved in violence

1 Day: (1997) Assaults: 389 serious,

73 simple 362 uses of guns 273 punches

TV Viewing (Hs/Day) Light: < 2 hours/day

Heavy: >4 hours/day

Stereotypes (racial & gender)

Mainstreaming

Views of …..

Mean World Syndrome

“The repetitive pattern of television’s mass-produced messages and images forms the mainstream of the common symbolic environment that cultivates the most widely shared conceptions of reality”

Cultivation Theory:Critiques and Extensions

Major critique: The cultivation effect is generally found to be very small (esp. after controlling for demographic variables)

Response to critique: First, any effect on views of reality is important. Second, other factors can be added to enhance predictive value of theory: Mainstreaming (homogenization of

views for heavy viewers) Resonance (more effect for viewers

who have had related experiences)

Cultivation Theory:Critiques and Extensions (cont.)

Cultivation Theory has also been criticized with regard to assumptions about television and viewing

These critiques are especially relevant in view of changing technology Cable and satellite offerings might

mitigate assumption of coherence Video-recording technology might

mitigate assumption of viewing by the clock

Cultivation Theory:Critiques and Extensions (cont.)

Extension has been proposed to distinguish between first-order and second-order cultivation effects First-order effect: Statistical

descriptions of the world Second-order effect: General nature of

the world Extension has been proposed to

evaluate nature of cultivation relationship

??Why are there no theories of cultivation based on music???

Final Paper

(1) Summarize the theory (history, key components, fundamental assumptions or propositions, etc. )

—Is it primarily interpretive, critical, post-pos.?

(2) Critique the worth of the theory according to Miller’s criteria (accuracy, consistency, scope, parsimonious, heuristic)

(3) Identify and integrate a minimum of five to eight research studies motivated by the theory Some studies will test the theory and some

will simply apply it

Final Paper

(4) Analyze current state of the theory based on the research applications (Has the theory been appropriately/sufficiently tested? has it been applied to the appropriate contexts?, etc.) You will refer primarily to the articles you

reviewed in the paper; however, you should also mention applications or tests that may have been beyond the parameters you set for your summary section.

(5) propose what should be done with the theory in the future (e.g., what direction should future research take? What elements need to be added to the theory? etc.).