Agenda Setting Essay Example for Free

Agenda Setting Essay Agenda Setting Patricia Wigington Grand Canyon University COM 126 Introduction The mass media today, no longer reports public opinion, it drives it. This paper discusses how mass media sets the agenda, and what impact this had on the issues that emerged during the 2008 presidential election. According to Donald Shaw and Maxwell Combs, agenda is a theory to describe now the news media can have a considerable impact on shaping the publics opinion of a social reality, on influencing what people believe are important issues. (ShawMcCombs, 1977) Agenda Setting Media consolidation is one thing that contributes to agenda-setting. As the number of newspapers dwindles and radio and TV stations are sold to one or two conglomerates, the news is in effect being censored because it reflect only the viewpoint of a single organization. If conflicting views are never even mentioned, the public is never aware that there is an entirely different side to the issue than the one being presented. It requires persistence to find out the facts of an issue, and people may not make the effort. Then too, the media itself has changed dramatically in recent years. Many people now get their news from digital media including the Internet, but the flood of electronic information may not make them more knowledgeable, just more informed about issues they may not consider important. Marshall McLuhan once famously argued that the medium is the message; David Considine twists it slightly, to the idea that the â€Å"medium is the massage,† and that we are all being worked over by the media, in particular younger people (Considine, 2009, p. 65). Today’s technology, people using several electronic devices simultaneously, practice widely known as multitasking (Considine, 2009). Time Magazine wondered, however, if people are â€Å"too wired for their own good,† and whether modern media were contributing to â€Å"students’ reduced attention spans, making it harder for educators to reach and teach them† (Considine, 2009, p. 65). There is a legitimate question as to whether this environment of electronic noise and constant communication makes them â€Å"active and informed citizens† or merely â€Å"spectators moving from one distraction to another† (Considine, 2009, p. 65). The answer seems clear when Considine reveals that despite the fact that in 2006, the number of young people ages 18-29 in the U. S. was 50 million, only seven million voted in the mid-term election (Considine, 2009). In other words, they have access to information but don’t transform that information into knowledge or political action. Younger people are a volatile population when it comes to voting. They become wildly enthusiastic for a particular candidate such as Ron Paul or Howard Dean, but fail to show up at the polls (Considine, 2009). Barack Obama was able to energize this group on his own behalf and that of other Democratic candidates: â€Å"Exit polling from the January 2008 Iowa caucus for the Democratic candidates showed a record turnout among eighteen-to twenty-nine year olds, who heavily supported the theme of change promoted by Senator Barack Obama† (Considine, 2009, p. 66). Now of course they seem to have disengaged again and organizations such as Democracy for America and Moveon. org are actively working to re-energize them and get them to the polls in November. Part of Barack Obama’s success in the 2008 election was due to his savvy use of electronic media (Considine, 2009). He was able to â€Å"use new technology to reach and energize voters; his campaign built a substantial database and achieved record-breaking fundraising† (Considine, 2009, p. 66). It also seems logical that part of his appeal is that he does know how to use Twitter and FaceBook, and that he tweets personal messages; his electronic presence immediately makes his opponent look old and out of touch. He further endeared himself to young voters and â€Å"reaffirmed his commitment to communication technology when he insisted on keeping his personal Blackberry† (Considine, 2009,p. 66) The tendency of the media to set agendas was clearly shown in the summer of 2009, when electronic forums such as YouTube and Twitter, along with traditional outlets such as newspaper columns, took up the health-care debate and buzzed about such ludicrous and inaccurate items as â€Å"’death panels,’ socialism, Hitler and fascism† (Jones McBeth, 2010, p. 29). These scare tactics, which are all completely false, were used to try and discredit both the reform effort and the President, and are a clear example of the way the media sets an agenda. Picking up on the hysteria of the far right, the media repeated the lies without doing any fact checking, leading commentators to wonder â€Å"how these ideas rationally relate to the debate over reform† (Jones McBeth, 2010, p. 329). The fact that these crazy notions were not only given credence but reported widely, and continue to appear in the media, show how powerful such things can be â€Å"in shaping public opinion and ultimately in shaping governmental action† (Jones McBeth, 2010, p. 329). The misleading claims about â€Å"death panels,† the idea of Obama being Hitler and leading the country into a Socialist government are all â€Å"elements of larger policy tall-tales that were intentionally used by opponents of health-care reform attempting to derail President Obama’s reform. Obama’s supporters countered these lies with stories of their own: personal accounts from Americans who, for various reasons, were priced out of the heath care system or even denied care (Jones McBeth, 2010). The use of narratives is a powerful tool in setting the political agenda in the United States. One study found that although TV and internet users had a common agenda (the use of electronic media), their â€Å"ranked agendas† differed greatly from the ranked agendas of the media themselves (Brubaker, 2008). That is, the TV watchers and internet users were not interested in the programming or information that was being presented to them: â€Å"The overall general media audience ranked 10 or the 11 public affairs issues significantly different than presented by the media† (Brubaker, 2008). TV watchers and internet users were interested in â€Å"important public affairs issues,† but the agenda they were following â€Å"significantly differed from the agenda that medium was showing them’ (Brubaker, 2008). This implies that the media â€Å"are not powerful in setting the agenda of important public affairs or political issues. People have particular issues they feel are important, regardless of what the media present† (Brubaker, 2008). This seems to be at odds with the idea that the media sets the agenda. and people simply put up with it. With regard to the 2008 Presidential election, the agenda presented by the media was that of the war in Iraq, but it was quickly displaced by concern about the economy; an agenda driven by consumers’ interests, not those of the media (Agenda setting and the Obama election, 2010). But this source claims that the media set another agenda, a highly visible but totally unnecessary one, that of race. Barack Obama is black, and that became a major issue in the election: â€Å"The measurement of Obama’s potential success didn’t lie in whether or not voters were willing to vote for a black candidate, but whether or not voters, more specifically white voters, could view Obama, or blacks in general, as leaders (Agenda setting and the Obama election, 2010). Had the media been more concerned about Obama’s positions and qualifications and less about the color of his skin, the entire election would have been conducted on a much higher level. This source also notes that the racial issues was studied in swing states like Ohio, where it was deemed to be extremely important (Agenda setting and the Obama election, 2010). In one study, Ohio was measured for â€Å"favorability between candidates in the areas of republicans, democrats, independents, men, women, whites and blacks;† it was found that a vast majority of black voters, as many as 90%, favored Obama, no matter what their previous voting record or party affiliation was (Agenda setting and the Obama election, 2010). The question raised by this result is whether our society â€Å"is the way it is because of the media, or is the media a direct reflection of the way society is †¦ In the case of Obama for President, the media clearly allowed race to chase to the top of the list of exaggerated issues that never should have been a part of the presidential election in the first place† (Agenda setting and the Obama election, 2010). In response to the popularity of Obama, the Republicans tried to set the media agenda to focus on issues such as Iraq and health care, arguing that race should not be consuming the attention focused on it (Agenda setting and the Obama election, 2010). But Republicans also tried to set an agenda favorable to them by introducing Sarah Palin as their vice presidential candidate to appeal to women voters; setting the agenda worked in Ohio, where pollsters noted a shift among women of all races who were not previously affiliated with a particular party (Agenda setting and the Obama election, 2010).

Thompson Valley Towne Center :: case study Towne Center Essays, solution

Thompson Valley Towne Center INTRODUCTION   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Thompson Valley Towne Center case study exemplifies how complicated a development project can get, especially with the presentation of a highly involved property rights litigation. Many issues arise in this particular project involving multiple parties. All these issues must be closely analyzed and continually monitored by the partnership developing the mixed-use project. Holsapple and Marostica begin to contemplate the continuance on the project as they see many bumps in its road to completion. The initial idea sounded so great, and now the partnership is debating whether to scrap the entire project at a substantial loss. LOOKING FOR THE LAND   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is my contention that finding and acquiring a property is the most important step in the development process. This decision will determine the involvement of a project as well as its success. The preliminary goal set forth by the partnership was to locate a property in Loveland, Colorado. They initially set out to complete three residential subdivision and any additional opportunities they found to develop for commercial use. So they went out and researched potential sites to develop. Form here, they would make a selection as to which properties they thought were best fit for development. One property they came across was at the north west corner of First and Taft. After viewing ownership and encumbrance information, they discovered that the property was being reviewed for a commercial center called Centennial Village. This land was obviously out of question for the partnership to develop, and could raise a possible competitive situation between the two complet ed projects. So the search continued on until the partners came across an 80-acre piece of property.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  80 acres is a lot of land and could be home to more than just a shopping center. The access to this parcel could be made with much more ease, and it was just down the street from the previously mentioned parcel. A mixed-use development was definitely obtainable with 80 acres to wok with. Mixed-use projects are further complicated when dealing with the government as far as easements and zoning concern. Other considerations for this location involve a huge gulch and irrigation ditch lining the boundary on the southeast corner of the property. These are just a few issues that Holsapple and Marostica must have in mind when deciding to acquire such this large property. Although this project looks promising, the conveyance of the land would be extremely complex, as the partnership would soon discover through the O & E on this land. Thompson Valley Towne Center :: case study Towne Center Essays, solution Thompson Valley Towne Center INTRODUCTION   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Thompson Valley Towne Center case study exemplifies how complicated a development project can get, especially with the presentation of a highly involved property rights litigation. Many issues arise in this particular project involving multiple parties. All these issues must be closely analyzed and continually monitored by the partnership developing the mixed-use project. Holsapple and Marostica begin to contemplate the continuance on the project as they see many bumps in its road to completion. The initial idea sounded so great, and now the partnership is debating whether to scrap the entire project at a substantial loss. LOOKING FOR THE LAND   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is my contention that finding and acquiring a property is the most important step in the development process. This decision will determine the involvement of a project as well as its success. The preliminary goal set forth by the partnership was to locate a property in Loveland, Colorado. They initially set out to complete three residential subdivision and any additional opportunities they found to develop for commercial use. So they went out and researched potential sites to develop. Form here, they would make a selection as to which properties they thought were best fit for development. One property they came across was at the north west corner of First and Taft. After viewing ownership and encumbrance information, they discovered that the property was being reviewed for a commercial center called Centennial Village. This land was obviously out of question for the partnership to develop, and could raise a possible competitive situation between the two complet ed projects. So the search continued on until the partners came across an 80-acre piece of property.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  80 acres is a lot of land and could be home to more than just a shopping center. The access to this parcel could be made with much more ease, and it was just down the street from the previously mentioned parcel. A mixed-use development was definitely obtainable with 80 acres to wok with. Mixed-use projects are further complicated when dealing with the government as far as easements and zoning concern. Other considerations for this location involve a huge gulch and irrigation ditch lining the boundary on the southeast corner of the property. These are just a few issues that Holsapple and Marostica must have in mind when deciding to acquire such this large property. Although this project looks promising, the conveyance of the land would be extremely complex, as the partnership would soon discover through the O & E on this land.

Is the Uk political system democratic? Essay

â€Å"A government of the people, by the people, for the people.† The word democracy comes from the Greek words â€Å"demos† which means the people and â€Å"kratos† which means authority, or power. A democratic political system is one in which the ultimate political authority is vested in the people this means that all eligible citizens are able to participate equally either directly or through elected representatives in the proposal, development, and creation of laws that will change and shape everyday life. A democratic country aims to have an accountable government that serve the best interests of the people it is governing. The UK is a liberal democracy which ensures that citizens should be able to influence governmental decisions made. The UK’s governmental system contains no written constitution. This means that theoretically the government are free to pass any legislation as long as they have the majority in parliament which could be easily achieved if the party has a large majority of seats. This means there is no safeguard for laws that can be altered or new ones that could be created. This is very undemocratic as the government therefore have too much power. The government is also in possession of other powers such as the royal prerogative that allows the prime minister to go to war without consent from parliament. An example of where this was used was the Iraq war in 2003 which was heavily resented by a large majority of the public. The most important thing is that true democracy is participatory democracy, where members of the public are effectively members of the government by voting directly on policies. However this is difficult to administer and as a result most modern democracies are representative. The public chooses who they wish to possess power and trust that person to devise policies that will benefit them. A representative democracy can easily become an elected dictatorship if the population’s views are not heard. Considering it from a purely political stance, democracy is power to the people, which establishes itself through the vote. We vote on members of the Commons but not on the Lords. We vote on local representatives but not party leaders. We vote on people but not policies. We vote people into Parliament but not out of it. We vote for a particular party but our second choices are not considered. We vote on only that which we are asked to vote on. We cannot ensure policies are maintained throughout a ministerial term by our vote. Evidently our democracy is far from flawless, and this is not even considering the social aspects of its meaning, i.e. the extent to which we are free police barraging of public protesters and Rupert Murdoch’s mass media control showed us that we are not quite as free as the democratic terminology seems to suggest. You could say that the UK can be made more democratic through a proportional electoral system, compulsory voting, a removal of unelected members of Parliament and more referendums. But it seems in these examples, more democratic is inversely proportional to more efficient. Proportional electoral systems may confuse voters and will result in less strong government, compulsory voting would cumber us with the careless votes of those uninterested in politics and therefore would not be an accurate representation of what the population wants a removal of unelected members of Parliament may increase political bias and reduce the expert value of the Lords. Referendums may be subject to people who do not know what is best for the country, and even then only those who set the agenda of democracy can be understood as a process of people governing their state and managing community affairs all together, based on consensus. The UK is in many ways not democratic. Firstly, the UK amongst many other countries claims to be a democracy. This would suggest that UK citizens have effective influence over government and over decisions that affect them. However there has been much controversy over this claim some arguing that power lies in the hands of just a few and others standing by the allegation that power in the UK is widely distributed. Secondly, First Past The Post has had a big impact on UK democracy. The system we use to elect our MPs has a real impact on how politics works in The UK. It has a direct effect on whether politicians truly represent us and whether we can hold them to account if they let us down. The defeat of the 2011 Alternative Vote (AV) referendum means it is now more important than ever to discredit our failed system and we are continuing to build the case for change at Westminster. This in turn means any of our votes just don’t count. Millions of people have no chance of deciding who their MP will be. And our votes are wasted by the system. Additionally, parties continue to focus all their time, money and effort on a handful of ‘marginal seats’, so just a few thousand voters can decide who runs Britain. As Jean-Jacques Rousseau highlighted in The Social Contract democracy in its political sense can only be efficient when the general will of the people is the same as each and every individual will. Here he argues that this can only be achieved through a classless society with censorship and civil religion. As democracy in modern society is now taken to be equal to freedom its efficiency as a political system is halted by its connotative meaning. This means Rousseau’s method of effective and true democracy would be considered undemocratic in the modern world. Britain may not be truly democratic but it is as democratic as it can be whilst maintaining the constancy and competency of its political workings.

The Romantic Poetry Of Blake And Shelley - 1494 Words

Contrary States of Human Existence expressed in the Romantic Poetry of Blake and Shelley The Romantic Period centered on creative imagination, nature, mythology, symbolism, feelings and intuition, freedom from laws, impulsiveness, simplistic language, personal experiences, democracy, and liberty, significant in various art forms including poetry. The development of the self and self-awareness became a major theme as the Romantic Period was seen as an unpredictable release of artistic energy, new found confidence, and creative power found in the writings of the Romantic poets Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, and Shelley, who made a substantial impact on the world of poetry. Two of the Romantic poets, William Blake, and Percy Bysshe Shelley rebelled against convention and authority in search of personal, political and artistic freedom. Blake and Shelley attempted to liberate the subjugated people through the contrary state of human existence prevalent throughout their writings, including Blake’s â€Å"The Chimney Sweepers,† from â€Å"Songs of Innocenc e†, â€Å"London,† from â€Å"Songs of Experience† and Shelley’s A Song: â€Å"Men of England.† William Blake was deeply aware of the great political and social issues during his time focusing his writing on the injustices going on in the world around him. He juxtaposed the state of human existence through his works Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), showing differentiating sides of humanity. The contrast between Songs ofShow MoreRelatedThe Romantic Works Of John Keats, Percy Shelley, And William Blake1456 Words   |  6 PagesThe romantic period, lasting from the late 18th to the early 19th century, followed the Age of Reason. During this time people had an individualized, free, liberal, and imaginative attitude towards life. Literature itself was full of introspection, emotion, passion, sublimity, beauty, and spontaneity, with subjects such as humankind, the soul, flowers, the common people and more. Of all of the Romantic values and subjects, the beauty, creativity, and morals of nature is what truly inspired humanRead MoreReflective Poetry Essay757 W ords   |  4 Pagesï » ¿Reflective Poetry Essay Composing poetry is an artistic expression; subsequently it’s a way of conveying everything that needs to be conveyed and finding importance in expressions. Through poetry words are illuminated to form a picture, express feeling and share a thought in so few words. Putting down on paper all the emotions going through ones head is a way of re-living and remembering the overwhelming emotions they grapple with throughout their lives. Poet Michelle Williams states that: Read MoreEssay on Romanticism and Shelleys Ode to the West Wind985 Words   |  4 PagesAbrams wrote, The Romantic period was eminently an age obsessed with fact of violent change (Revolution 659). And Percy Shelley is often thought of as the quintessential Romantic poet (Appelbaum x). The Ode to the West Wind expresses perfectly the aims and views of the Romantic period. Shelleys poem expresses the yearning for Genius. In the Romantic era, it was common to associate genius with an attendant spirit or force of nature from which the genius came; the Romantics perceived the artistRead MoreEssay on Common Issues in Romanticism1475 Words   |  6 Pagesmarked in William Blake’s poems â€Å"Infant Sorrow† and â€Å"On Another’s Sorrow†, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. 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However, as the 19th century began, Romanticism came into the light with a new perspective that intrigued the people. It stressed emphasis on emotions and imagination while also helping to realize the importance of self-expression. The American Romanticism movement illustrated inspiration, bias and predominance of individuals in the nineteenth centuryRead MoreThe Renaissance And Romanticism During The 19th Century1245 Words   |  5 Pageslearning during the Renaissance, because of the invention of the printing press and the return of classical Greek and Roman literature. The Romantic period occurred during the late eighteenth century, as a response to the Enlightenment. The Romantics believed in the importance of the imagination and turned away from logical thinking. The Renaissance and the Romantic periods are similar, because they focus on individuality and occur a s a rebellion to the previous period; but they are also different,