Public Opinion and Policy: The Media's Role in Shaping Outcomes - Essay Example

Introduction

Social scientists agree that public opinion significantly influences public policy, particularly in democratic countries. According to McCombs and Shaw (2017), the more prominent a topic is, the more the opinion of the public is upheld. Usually, the relationship between public opinion and public policies is often threatened by the power of political entities, interested stakeholders, as well as economic elites. Today, the media plays a critical role in relaying public views and perspectives regarding various issues. The paper will analyze the role of the media in setting the nation’s policy agenda.

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Agenda-setting Role of the Media

Rodder (2014) points out that the media has the power to focus public attention on specific issues by setting a nation’s agenda. In the post-modern world, almost everybody acquires factual information regarding government activities from news media and other media platforms. In most cases, people determine the importance of attaching to a piece of news, depending on whether or not the media have emphasized it (Shanahan, Mcbeth and Hathaway, 2011). Newspapers provide strong cues about prominent issues in the country through catchy headlines, front page displays as well as lead stories on the front page.

Correspondingly, television news emphasizes some topics by including prominent stories as the opening story during a news broadcast and devoting more time to prominent topics among others (McCombs and Shaw, 2017). Ideally, these cues are repeated daily to relay the importance of the issue at hand. Through these cues, the media sets the agenda for the public. Consequently, the public shifts its attention to the highlighted issues and begins offering varying opinions.

According to Tortajada (2016), the news media is the source of information that most people have about public affairs. For most citizens, the political world is beyond reach. In this regard, what people know is primarily based on what the media portrays. As a result, the priorities of media outlets have a strong influence on those of the general public. Shanahan, Mcbeth and Hathaway (2011) maintain that the agenda-setting influence of the media is mostly associated with public issues. The agenda of a media outlet can be spotted by examining the pattern of their coverage over a week, month or even a year. During this period, specific issues may be emphasized over others. Nonetheless, Tortajada (2016) mentions that there exists no pejorative implication that a media channel “has a specific agenda” that is relentlessly pursued. On the contrary, the media agenda results from the news of the moment.

McCombs and Shaw (2017) note that the agenda-setting element of the media goes beyond focusing public attention on a specific issue. Ideally, the media also influences the next step in the communication process by determining how the public understands the issue as well as the perspective that the public will align. From a theoretical point of view, an agenda is defined by several objects (Rodder, 2014). These objects are public issues or any other salient topics such as the agenda of political rivals during an election campaign. They are the elements on which media and public attention are focused.

Furthermore, they have specific attributes that either appeal to or displease the public. The media draws attention to some agendas by highlighting specific attributes (McCombs and Shaw, 2017). The agenda of attributes is a significant factor in the agenda-setting role of the media. The attributes emphasized by the media determine the pictures in people’s minds regarding specific policies. Consequently, the public expresses their opinions through opinion polls that can either uphold or rebuke the policy at hand.

Rölle (2016) conducted an investigative study to understand the agenda-setting influence of the media. The results indicated that public responses are dependent on the patterns of coverage in various news media. Through agenda setting, the media can determine whether a policy issue will be accepted or rejected by the citizens. For instance, how the media paints a political leader and their portfolio determines whether or not the public will support him. Ideally, most political elements and aspects are learned from the media. Rodder (2014) asserts that the images on the public mind regarding specific policies and political figures are the most basic examples of attribute agenda-setting.

The aspects of an issue that are reported in the media influence how the public views the issue. The pattern of total news coverage allows the public to determine the critical policy issues, the prominent political leaders as well and the figures of the day. Consequently, the public forms and expresses their opinion depending on the details of coverage. Fundamentally, influencing public attention on some issues is a dominant role.

Nonetheless, Rölle (2016) argues that influencing the agenda of attributes for a salient issue is the quintessence of political power. By determining how an issue is framed, the media sets the rules for deliberation, a factor that significantly influences the outcome. In this regard, if the media highlights the negative attributes of a policy, the public is more likely to reject it. From this perspective, it can be argued that the agenda-setting role of news media determines public opinion on a policy issue.

The more salient a topic is, the faster the public shifts from a neutral position to form diverse opinions. Shanahan, Mcbeth And Hathawa (2011) found a strong association between the patterns of media coverage and the public position during elections. Ideally, correlations were negative in cases where the media saliency of the candidate was negative. Moreover, analogous links have been established between the prominence of a topic and public attitude. Nonetheless, the direction of the opinion is heavily influenced by media coverage.

References

McCombs, M., and Shaw, D., 2017. The agenda-setting function of mass media. The Agenda Setting Journal, 1(2), pp.105-116.

Rodder, S., 2014. Science Media Centres and Public Policy. Science and Public Policy, 42(3), pp.387-400.

Rölle, D., 2016. Mass media and bureaucracy-bashing: Does the media influence public attitudes towards public administration? Public Policy and Administration, 32(3), pp.232-258.

SHANAHAN, E., MCBETH, M., and HATHAWAY, P., 2011. Narrative Policy Framework: The Influence of Media Policy Narratives on Public Opinion. Politics & Policy, 39(3), pp.373-400.

Tortajada, C., 2016. Nongovernmental Organizations and Influence on Global Public Policy. Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, 3(2), pp.266-274.