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Simply put, agenda-setting is the media giving an idea to the audience of what to think about. Agenda Setting Theory:Īgenda setting is nextly important to gatekeeping. It is decided when the workers of the media decide on what aspect they see their jobs, on the basis of objectivity, autonomy, immediacy, ethics and public services.įinally and importantly, all these end up in the choice that the audience make, according to every individual’s demand and interest.
AGENDA SETTING DEFINITION PROFESSIONAL
Not just the professional practise but also the ideology of the journalists play a major role. The answer for the question of newsworthiness, editorial values and news policies when an information is passed lies in the hands of the journalists and the editors of the organization. They decide if they should be ethical or not. Journalists and media owners play a major role in gate keeping. Some of the economic factors include competitions between agencies or organizations in the market, the workers union, and the advertising and marketing agencies. The media has reached a point where they can survive only if there is strong support on the economic side. These factors are influenced by the political parties, Governing and Non – Governmental organizations, and sometimes the educational institutions. These might also be said as media information restrictions or censorship according to the legal side (Libel and Slander). There are a lot of restrictions from the socio-politicals side of the media. These patterns are the first and foremost to influence gatekeeping. The events organized by the media almost fall under a recurring pattern. The selection of content is controlled on certain bases, they are:
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In short, the information that reaches the audience is specific, selective and has passed a lots of editing gates before being published. According to the Westley Mclean model of the editorial function, gatekeeping is described as the role of the media that decides what the audience can take and what they cannot, it decides what is important and what is not important, and finally, the gatekeeper decides how and in what way a story should be told. Gate + Keeping = gatekeeping is the control of what information goes in media to reach the public. To keep things working without any kind of conflict, we are introduced to four theories that mass media uses. These divisions might be based on social class, status, gender, or race. This perspective tells us how the media can aggravate the divisions that exist in a society. The media also tells us what is the at a most thing or the least thing that society expects from us and vice versa, which in return has given birth to a conflict perspective. But on the other side, mass media plays a major role in socialization by enforcing social norms and bringing people together.Īlso Read: Noam Chomsky: Five Filters of Mass Media On the functionalist view, mass media exists to entertain people and occupy their leisure time.
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But, have a look at today’s communication method, spreading news and information is as easy as boiling hot water. Their way of communication was simple but took more time. Years ago, our ancestors had to wait to spread or receive information from people. Mass media evolves with the evolution of technology. Mass media is potentially administered, financed, and industrially organized. Mass media simply plays the role of information dissemination through print (newspapers, books, magazines) and digital media (Television, Internet, advertising). For example, if we are considering the print medium which is the media class, then the newspapers such as The Hindu, Times of India, or any other magazines serve as the media vehicle. They are known as the media class and the media vehicle. It includes organizations and technologies that are involved. Mass media are generally described as channels that help in reaching mass audiences.
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Adding up to this, the levels and factors are also discussed.
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Further, it explains the four different theories used in mass media, namely gatekeeping, agenda-setting, framing, and the priming theory. Mass media is widely used these days, this article starts with an introduction to mass media and its characteristics.
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