Agenda Setting Theory, Media Framing and Priming

Media Influence is inevitable in every country. Media plays a great role when it comes to influencing the citizens. In most cases, media does things to benefit itself instead of the citizens. Media is always about making money. They will therefore look for news that attracts advertisers and if they lack this kind of news then they will have to amend the ones they have to attract advertisers. Sometimes the media influence is accidental but in most cases it is intentional.

Media Influence Theories

The Agenda Setting Theory

This theory was coined by Donald Shaw and Maxwell McCombs. The theory states that the media does not tell Us what to think but rather what to think about. The media is picky and selfish. They want you to think about certain things for their own benefits. They therefore pick what they think will benefit them if you think about it. The media manipulates your mind. For example in Kenya right now. Media wants to focus on certain political Issues and leave out others. To my opinion. The Media supports certain political candidates but they are afraid to come out open not because it is Unethical but because they think that things can come out contrary from expectations. For example, the media does not want to come out openly and declare their support for Uhuru Kenyatta not because they Know it is unethical but because they fear Raila might win and this will threaten their business. In short, Agenda Setting Theory is all about telling people what things are important and what should they think about for example right now, the media is so focused on Joho and Uhuru's differences like there are no other important things in the country to think about

Framing

This theory was coined by Erving Goffman. The theory states that the media provides a focus on certain things when reporting a story. This influences the way the audience understands and evaluate it. Framing Involves the perception of the journalist reporting a certain story and the way the audience inter-prates that story. Framing has something to do with WHO TELLS THE STORY FIRST. It is a tool used by the media to manipulate the audience. It involves the use of all narrative elements such as Spin, jargon, metaphor, similes, word choice and many more. framing therefore involves focusing on a certain issue in a story and making it salient. For example the issue of Joho and the President. Perhaps it is not something that big like the media wants us to believe but the way the media reports the Issue, they focus more in the instances where both the president and the Governor insulted each other leaving out the reasons to why they did so. 

Priming

to understand more about this theory, read more Shanto Iyengar, Mark Peters and Donald Kinder's political research. This theory states that the media provides the stage for the audience to understand certain Issues.They provide the context for public discussion. Most human understanding of things is impacted by historical instances which they are familiar with. media priming can be very effective. It can change someone's interest in something temporarily or permanently. For example, during world cup. the media focuses a lot on it and it can make someone without any interest in football gain a temporary interest or become a fan completely.