The Media’s Agenda Still Applicable in the Online Realm

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The Media’s Agenda Still Applicable in the Online Realm

 Introduction:

            The expansion of the Internet has brought about many changes in our society. For example, one can find love on an online dating site, get a degree from a university of higher learning, or watch live news while simultaneously running a business. “Clearly the Internet has radically reshaped our social lives over the span of a virtual metaworld where traditional interactions—living, loving, belonging, and separating, as well as finding customers and keeping them—require new protocols” (Brown, 2011). Because of these changes in our society the landscape of cyberspace is constantly evolving and many traditional media outlets are shifting toward the growing number of people using online communities.

            News programming is now combining fantasy dimensions of traditional text-based forums and intriguing its users to utilize a more Internet based communication (Thurlow, 2007, p.187). Therefore, as individuals spend more of their social lives online, the definition of relationships, families and business begin to shift (Brown, 2011). This paradigm shift is causing many popular news programs to utilize the online realm in order to maintain the media’s agenda. However, many question whether the expansion of the Internet has negated the effectiveness of the media’s agenda when crossing over to the online realm.

Traditional Agenda Setting moves to the online community

            McCombs and Shaw are the individuals who first established the agenda setting theory. Within their theory they state that the media establishes salient issues or images in the minds of the public to influence opinions (Littlejohn, Foss, 2011, p.341). McCombs and Shaw do not propose that the media is deliberately attempting to influence the listener’s opinion, but rather the public look toward the news professionals for indications on where to focus their concentration. In other words, how the public judges the importance is based off what the media feels is significant (Griffin, 2012, p.378).

          

  Historically, the traditional agenda used by the media has been to set the stage for countless political debates. However, “[w]ith the emergence of online media… the relevance of Agenda-Setting is being challenged” (Berger & Freeman, p.3). Because the media is utilizing more avenues to reach the public their agenda is getting diluted and this is creating a fragmented division among the media. The availability of online sources for one to research creates options not previously available and provides for new social awareness. Individual awareness of the media’s agenda and swaying its effectiveness is becoming more and more important in today’s news environment. Individuals are gaining awareness by researching different sources of information to obtain accurate news.

            Studies have shown that online blogging is affecting the traditional news media and the effectiveness of their agenda. In this past election, one could not help but notice the power of blogs and their ability to influence the traditional news media outlets (Messner & Garrison, 2011, p.1). Shifting political conversations on television to be based off of the political buzz from the Internet. Allowing for individuals to easily recognize what blogs catered to the specific opinions.“ [T]raditional news media is generally only [focusing] on ‘A-list bloggers, those whose thoughts are heard and quoted far beyond the blogosphere and in mainstream media’” (p.1). Many traditional news media outlets have also started to adopt the blog format to direct traffic to their own websites to regain some control over the opinions. This allows the media to still control the flow of information and continue its agenda even in the online realm; all in an attempt to have the cycle continue.

Reference:

Brown, A. (2011). Relationships, Community, and Identity in the New Virtual Society. Futurist, 45(2), 29-34.

Littlejohn, S. W., & Foss, K. A. (2011). Theories of human communication. (10th ed.). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Pr Inc.x

Thurlow, C., Lengel , L., & Tomic, A. (2007). Computer mediated communication social interaction and the internet . London, England: Sage Publication

Griffin, E. (2012). A first look at communication theory (8th ed.) Boston: McGraw Hill.

Berger, L., & Freeman, M. (n.d.). Relevance of agenda-setting theory to the online community. Informally published manuscript, Chapman University Department of Communication

Messner, M., & Garrison, B. (2011). Study Shows Some Blogs Affect Traditional News Media Agendas. Newspaper Research Journal, 32(3), 112-126.