Agenda-setting theory

According to the agenda-setting theory, propounded by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in the 1970s, media set the agenda for public opinion by highlighting certain issues. Studying the way political campagings were convered in the media, Shaw and McCombs found the main effect of media to be agenda-setting, telling people not what to think, but what to think of.

• Gatekeeping -- Control over the selection of content exercised by media
• Priming -- Giving more importance to some content over other content
• Framing -- Presenting content in a way as to guide its interpretation along certain forced lines