Agenda-setting theory refers to the important way that mass media influences society, and its viewpoint mainly comes from political science. Lippmann's "Public Opinion" first put forward this idea, which is regarded as the foundation work in the field of communication.

As a theoretical hypothesis, "agenda-setting function" was first seen in a paper entitled "Agenda-setting function of mass communication" published by American communicators M.E. mccombs and Donald Shaw in Public Opinion Quarterly 1972. This paper is a summary of a survey they made during the 1968 US presidential election on the influence of media election reports on voters.

Some study agenda setting and discourse movement with new media events as the object, and pay more attention to the influence of discourse right on real life. Some are from the perspective of specific news columns or macro news business, and some are purely theoretical and empirical research.