Some people say that in the internet age, the right of netizens to choose independently has been improved, and they are no longer passively limited by the agenda circle set for us by the media. We have our own value selection criteria and formed a set of fixed agenda selection thinking mode. So in the Internet age, the agenda setting function has failed?
The answer is no.
(1) The long-term role of mass media agenda setting
The communication effect of mass media on the audience can be divided into three levels: cognition, attitude and action, which are also different stages of the formation process of the effect in a complete sense. The hypothesis of "agenda setting function" focuses on the initial stage of this process, that is, the effect on the cognitive level. Cognition is the basis and premise of attitude, and attitude is the premise of action, so it has the deepest influence on the audience's cognition. However, the root of this cognitive effect is not achieved overnight, but the long-term baptism of mass media. It is crazy to get rid of the shackles of the mass media on the agenda-setting framework at once.
Everything in the world is either creation or imitation. Babies babble and imitate. People are born in the information environment built by the media for us. We can only imitate the values conveyed by the media, and we are used to this cognitive model. Therefore, the agenda-setting function of mass media has been deeply rooted.
(2) Discourse analysis of the agenda
The topic in traditional agenda setting is the public topic of public opinion survey, while the so-called public agenda on the Internet is only discussed by a few netizens. Most netizens do not regard the Internet as a direct source of information, so the public agenda on the Internet has no direct influence on the agenda setting theory.
At first, many public opinion centers on the Internet only attracted the attention of a few netizens, and became the topic of public concern after being forwarded by the mass media. Therefore, the intermediary role of mass media should not be underestimated. The function of "arousing public opinion" of mass media is realized through agenda setting, which is a feature endowed by this era and also a right endowed by this era to the audience.
(3) The influence of network on agenda setting.
In democratic countries, the media agenda generally comes from the agenda of some people, and the network is only the expression channel of some group agendas. It has not changed the whole institutional framework, so it cannot be said that the agenda setting function on the network is invalid at present.
However, the Internet does affect the agenda setting of mass media. Its performance is not the reversal of setting direction (public agenda in turn affects mass media agenda), but the decline of mass media's ability to set universal agenda.