Agenda-Setting Theory 议程设置理论 (Maxwell McCombs & Donald Shaw, 1972)

Definition:The mass media have the ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda.
大众传媒有能力将新闻议程中项目的显著性向公众议程转移。

Compare: Select-Exposure Theory: people would attend only to news and views that didn’t threaten their established beliefs.
人们只会对他们认可的消息和观点感兴趣。

Concepts:

Media agenda: The pattern of news coverage across major print and broadcast media as measured by prominence and length of stories.
根据显著性和篇幅衡量的新闻报道在主要印刷品和广电媒体上的覆盖模式。

Public agenda: The most important public issues as measured by public opinion surveys.
由舆论调查给出的最重要的公众议题。

Keys:
A true test of the agenda-setting hypothesis must be able to show that public priorities lag behind the media agenda.
要想真正地验证议程设置才想，必须证明公众议程要稍微滞后于传媒议程。