A First Look At Communication Theory, 10e (Griffin)
Chapter 30 Agenda-Setting Theory
1) For McCombs and Shaw, an important story in the newspapers would be:
A) a three-column story on an inside page.
B) the lead editorial.
C) a front-page headline story.
D) All of the answers are correct.
2) At the second level of agenda-setting, the media:
A) tell us what issues are important.
B) give prominence to stories that reinforce the capitalistic agenda, particularly if they feature
violence against minorities.
C) transfer salience of a collection of dominant attributes that the media associate with an
attitude object to the audience‘s image of the object.
D) Both A and B are correct.
3) Which of the following groups are NOT considered important agenda-setters?
A) media gatekeepers
B) candidates and officeholders
C) public relations professionals
D) industry leaders
4) Proof of the definite chain of influence from the media to the general public was provided by:
A) Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw.
B) Ray Funkhouser.
C) Shanto Iyengar and Donald Kinder.
D) James Tankard.
5) In analyzing the public’s priorities, McCombs and Shaw considered the opinions of voters
who were:
A) undecided.
B) committed to leading candidates.
C) committed to underdog candidates.
D) All of the answers are correct.
6) In comparison to readers of traditional print media, readers of electronic media:
A) know more stories in depth.
B) remember more content details.
C) are more shut off from the larger flows of public information.
D) rate international stories as more important.
7) The need for orientation arises from:
A) framing.
B) high relevance and uncertainty.
C) the influence of spin doctors.
D) gatekeeping.
8) Recently, McCombs has concluded that:
A) the media does influence the way we think.
B) framing is a dubious theoretical concept.
C) context, mood, and selectivity are not relevant to journalism.
D) the index of curiosity requires more study.
9) In the digital era, agenda-setting theory does not measure up to its claims because:
A) the causal link between the media’s agendas and the public’s agendas has been called into
question.
B) it is largely based on qualitative data as opposed to well-grounded quantifiable data.
C) the role of interest aggregations has been underrepresented.
D) modern websites and apps change the structure of gatekeeping and allow the public to set its
own agenda.
10) Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw found that agenda-setting takes place in three ways.
At the third level, the media:
A) tell us which attributes of the dominant issues we should think about.
B) suggest practical solutions to the public to deal with their hyperlocal issues.
C) manipulate content to influence people’s behavior.
D) tell us how different issues are connected to each other.
11) ________ are computer programs that decide which material appears in search engines,
social media feeds, and elsewhere on the Internet.
A) Surge barriers
B) Algorithmic gatekeepers
C) Cryonic technicians
D) BitShares
12) People with a high need for orientation tend to be resistant to the media’s political priorities.
13) Recent experimental studies have ruled out the possibility that public priorities are set by
media priorities.
14) In order for the agenda-setting function hypothesis to be established as a causal relationship,
a lag in public priorities behind media agenda must be observed.
15) Recent agenda-setting research suggests that the media not only set the agenda for what
issues are important, but also make some aspects of those issues more salient than the others.
16) The public’s perception of professional basketball has been affected by the television
network’s agenda.
17) In their initial research, McCombs and Shaw only found that there was a correlation between
the media and the public agendas.
18) Although some reporters frame a story by the personal attributes of public figures they select
to describe, others are more objective.
19) Theodore White, who wrote the definitive account of four U.S. presidential elections,
concluded that the media shaped those election campaigns.
20) With the rise of new media, agenda-setting no longer exists.
21) ________ refers to the social process by which we combine agendas from various sources to
create pictures of the world that fit our experiences and preferences.
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22) The early mantra of agenda setting was “the media aren’t very successful in telling us what to
think, but ________.”
23) According to agenda-setting, public agenda follows ________.
24) What is agenda-setting theory? What are its two levels? Provide an example. Why is this
topic important to you?
25) “When compared to the standards for evaluating an objective theory, agenda-setting theory
fares well.” Elaborate further on this statement.
26) Justify why the gap identified between public agenda and media agenda necessitates an
extensive research.
27) How do the agendas of the mass media get set in the first place?
28) Discuss the research methodology used in McCombs and Shaw’s original agenda-setting
research. How has the methodology been altered by subsequent researchers?
29) Discuss the concept of framing. In what ways is it relevant to agenda-setting theory? What
does Griffin mean when he states that “framing is not an option”?
30) Ultimately, what are the (causal) relationships among the following variables: the media’s
agendas, what the public thinks about, how the public thinks about what it thinks about?
31) Agenda-setting theory states that the media establish the importance of some issues more
effectively than others. Why is this the case? Provide examples.
32) In agenda-setting research, it is critical to establish how public priorities lag behind the
media agenda. Why is this distinction so important? What does it mean and how would you
establish the presence of a lag through empirical research?
33) How might McCombs and Shaw react to Gerbner’s cultivation theory?
34) Imagine that Marshall McLuhan, George Gerbner, and Stuart Hall crash Maxwell McCombs’
graduate seminar on agenda setting. Instantly they break into a lively discussion of the subject of
the day—framing. How does it go?
35) Compare McCombs and Shaw’s general approach to theory building and research with
Hall’s.
36) How might McLuhan approach agenda-setting research?
37) According to Katz, uses & grats are indicative of media use. How might these differing
needs also affect the media ability to mold our agendas?
38) What connections can you see among agenda setting, framing, and cultivation?
39) Analyze the assertion that cultivation, agenda setting, and cultural studies address different
pieces of the same process. Are they all pointing to the possibility of a unified media theory?
What would such a theory look like? Is it possible or even appropriate?
40) What might Berger’s uncertainty reduction theory say regarding agenda-setting? Does the
public allow the discourse to be guided in order to reduce collective uncertainty?