This book explores the extent and circumstances under which the media affects public policy; and whether the political impact of the media is confined to the public representation of politics or whether their influence goes further to also affect the substance of political decisions.

Setting the Agenda describes the mass media’s significant and sometimes controversial role in determining which topics are at the centre of public attention and action. Although Walter Lippman captured the essence of the media’s powerful influence early in the last century with his phrase, “the world outside and the pictures in our heads,” a detailed, empirical elaboration of this agenda-setting role of the mass media did not begin until the final quarter of the 20th century. In this comprehensive book, Maxwell McCombs, one of the founding fathers of agenda-setting tradition of research, synthesizes the hundreds of scientific studies carried out on this central role of the mass media in the shaping of public opinion. Across the world, the mass media strongly influences what the pictures of public affairs "in our heads" are about. The mass media also influences the very details of those pictures. In addition to describing this media influence on what we think about and how we think about it, Setting the Agenda also discusses the sources of these media agendas, the psychological explanation for their impact on the public agenda, and the subsequent consequences for attitudes, opinions and behaviour.

The first volume of edited papers from the Tenth World Congress of the Econometric Society 2010.

Public policy thinking and implementation is both a process of intellectual thought and rationale for governing. This book examines public policy and the influence news media organizations have in the production and implementation of public policy. Part I assesses the impact of political philosophy on public policy thinking and further discusses the meaning of public policy in social democratic systems. It uses the riots that occurred across England in the summer of 2011 as a case-study to focus on how the idea of the ‘Big Society’ was regenerated by government and used as a basis for public policy thinking. Finally, it investigates how media organizations form news representations of public policy issues that seek to contextualize and reshape policy manufactured for public consumption. Part II provides a psychological exploration of the processes which explain the connection between the media, the public and policy-makers. Does the ‘common good’ really drive public policy-making, or can group processes better explain what policy-makers decide? This second part of the book explores how media workers’ professional identities and practices shape their decisions about how to represent policy news. It also shows how the public identities and corporate interests of media organizations shape their role as referees of public policy-making and how all this culminates in faulty decision-making about how to represent policy news, polarization in public opinion about particular policies, and shifts in policy-makers’ decisions.

These essays discuss US policy in regulating the media and the reconciliation of the First Amendment.

In this latest edition of a highly praised book, Graber covers a broad range of subjects with three focal points: the mass media and their place in the public and private sectors; the media and their impact on individuals' attitudes and perceptions; and media coverage of governmental institutions and political situations.Cyberspace and other technological developments are bringing the worlds of mass media and government closer together. Understanding how mass media and American government impact each other requires an understanding of their functions and structures.

Setting the Agenda describes the mass media’ssignificant and sometimes controversial role in determining whichtopics are at the centre of public attention and action. In thisnew edition of his comprehensive book, Max McCombs, one of thefounding fathers of the agenda-setting tradition of research,extends his previous synthesis of hundreds of studies carried outon this central role of the mass media in the shaping of publicopinion. Across the world, the mass media strongly influences how we picturepublic affairs. In describing this media influence on what we thinkabout and how we think about it, Setting the Agenda alsodiscusses the sources of these media agendas, the psychologicalexplanation for their impact on the public agenda, and thesubsequent consequences for attitudes, opinions and behaviour. Newto this edition, McCombs debates the role of the expanded medialandscape on agenda setting, the impact of the internet on thepower of legacy media and the role of agenda setting beyond therealm of public affairs, This fully updated new edition will prove invaluable to students ofmedia, communications and politics, as well as those interested inthe role of mass media in shaping and directing public opinion.