How was agenda setting defined in the lectures?

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Question: How was agenda setting defined in the lectures?

Option a: 'The media have the ability to tell us what to think, and they have the ability to tell us what to think about.' This framing overstates the influence by implying the media directly shapes all thoughts, whereas agenda setting is more about shaping the topics that come to mind than dictating every belief. It conflates influencing content with controlling cognition.

Option b: 'The media don't have the ability to tell us what to think. But they do have the ability to tell us what to think about.' This aligns with classic agenda-setting theory, which posits that media can influence the salience of issues by emphasizing some topics over others, thereby guiding what people consider important without fully determining their opinions on those issues.

Option c: 'The media have the ability to tell us what to think, but we are also slowly gaining control of this process through social media.' This mixes two ideas: traditional media power and an emerging sense of countervailing influence via social media. While social media can alter topic visibility, the central definition of agenda setting focuses on media salience rather than claiming people’s thoughts are fully controlled or that there is a growing direct control dynamic as stated here.

Option d: 'The media have the ability to tell us what to think about, and Agenda Setting refers to our capacity to resist and challenge this power.' This flips the primary mechanism. Agenda setting emphasizes media influence on issue salience, not a formal description of audience resistance as its core definition. So this option describes a counteractive stance rather than the core concept.

In summary, each option attempts to capture a facet of agenda setting, but option b most accurately reflects the established definition: media influence which topics are salient, shaping what people think about rather than dictating exact thoughts. The other choices either overstate media control, combine unrelated ideas about control and resistance, or conflate salience with direct thought control.

How was agenda setting defined in the lectures?

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