Agenda Setting Theory
Agenda Setting Theory: this is the idea that the media picks what is important to report on in society and then passes this interpretation on to the individuals who make use of mass media. It was first developed by Walter Lippman in 1922 to attempt to explain how the media helps the public perceive what is happening in their society.
This theory operates on two main assumptions:
1) That the media does not create reality; it only filters it so the audience sees it the way the media sees it
2) The media only concentrates on a few main topics and expects the audience to share the same view with regard to those topics that are shown (cw.utwente.nl).
Click here and here to view examples of how two different news agencies report on the same story.
