Diana Arrowood EDU-215 Education Foundations and Framework 31-Oct-2011 (O101) November 14, 2011 Lisa DeBow How Do Media Writers Influence Society? The Media most certainly has an effect on our society. There are many ways that a writer can manipulate and control the message of today’s news. The influence and impact it has on society could be positive and negative. The media is what informs us of daily events and significant things we need to carry out our day. The media keeps us connected to the world around us, along with current events, sporting events, sex scandals, and even murders.

We must know the path of the information that is provided to us by the media is coming from? The media acts as a filter and chooses what information gets relayed to the public. It is known as agenda setting. (McCullaugh) (2002). The media’s role in setting the public agenda had a grave remark made by Bernard Cohen, in 1963 Bernard stated that, “the mass media may not be successful in telling people what to think, but the media are stunningly successful in telling their audience what to think about”. (utwente. nl)(n. d. ) Agenda setting is a very powerful influence by the media.

The ability to tell us what they think is important for us to know. McCombs and Shaw did some investigating on Presidential Campaigns in the years 1968, 1972, 1976. In 1968 they focused on awareness and information. (McCombs, M. E. ) (1972). People of the community had views of importance on issues, which the mass media did not deem important. The mass media had a huge impact, and a great influence on what voters considered to be important issues during the campaign. The media can concentrate on issues of no significance and the public view will think of them as important issues. (McCombs, M. E. & Shaw, D). 1972) We have many ways of communications in our world today. We have cell phones, land lines, computers, fax, television, satellites, personal encounters, newspapers, magazines, computers, social sites, chat room forums, and radio to mention a few. The agenda setting theory does not say the media is controlling or has taken over our abilities to reason our own ideas, and thoughts, it just shows the medias ability to direct our focus in other directions by merely stating it over and over until we think it is essential news. References McCullaugh, Ciaran. (2002) Media Power: A Sociological Introduction.

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York: Palgrave utwente. nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Agenda-Setting_Theory. doc/ (n. d. ) Retrieved From www. utwente. nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Agenda-Setting_Theory. doc/ McCombs, M. E. & Shaw, D. (1972). The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. POQ, 36; 176-187. McCombs, M. E. (1972). Mass Communication in Political Campaigns: Information, Gratification and Persuasion. In: Kline, F. & Tichenor, Ph. J. (Eds. ) Current Perspectives in Mass Communication Research. Beverly Hills, CA. : Sage