Agenda building is the process by which policy agendas of political elites are influenced by media, public, and other factors. There are three main agendas: media agenda which focuses on issues frequently and prominently covered in news, public agenda which are issues viewed as most important by the public, and policy agenda which are top priority issues for political leaders. Media agenda can influence policy agenda if an issue receives excessive media coverage, though the relationship between the three agendas is complex. Media coverage can also be divided into spheres of legitimate controversy, consensus, and deviation which affect how freely an issue is reported on.

1. Nadia Naseem
M.Phil Mass Comm.
(Research Track)

2. Agenda
Building

3. What is
Agenda???
?????

4. • Agenda is a list of items to be discussed at a formal
meeting.
• Agenda is a list of matter to be acted upon. It means a
plane or goal that guide someone behavior or often
kept in secret.
For example: "the question of nuclear weapons had
been removed from the agenda"

5. History of Agenda
Setting:
• Originated in Walter
Lippmann’s classics,
Public opinion (1922)
• Establishes the principal
connection b/w worlds
events and the image in
the public mind.

6. What is Agenda
Building????

7. • Agenda-building is defined as “a process through
which the policy agendas of political elites are
influenced by a variety of factors, including media
agendas and public agendas” (Rogers & Dearing, 1988).
• Elite categories who building and promoting policy are
called agenda building.
•Government Issues give the first
priority in agenda building.

8. What does mean by agenda
building?
To determine all those factors
that shape media agenda and
subsequently public agenda in
a broader context or in other
words, understanding factors
at macro level.

9. What is Media Agenda?
Issues frequentiely and prominent in news
are called media agenda.

10. What is Public Agenda?
• The public agenda consists of the issues the
general public views as most important at a
particular time.
• Issues rank as important by public is called
Public Agenda.

11. What is Policy Agenda?
• The policy agenda refers to the issues that
head the priority list of political leaders.
• Issues under considered by powerful Elites are
called Policy Agenda.

12. How media agenda shape
policy agenda?
• Relying on the findings of David Protess and his
colleagues (1991), Professor Perloff says that
policy makers cannot focus all issues; they just
focus one or two main due to excessive media
coverage or in other words media agenda.

13. Media, Public and Policy Agendas:
It is a complex relationship—such as it is
itself political to decide that which issue
should be media agenda or public agenda
so that it could finally be policy agenda.
Many factors influence media and its
decisions regarding selection of a
problem.

15. Model of Agenda Building:

16. Three spheres of media:
According to Daniel C. Hallin
(1986), news media coverage
can be divided into three
distinct ideological spheres:
the sphere of legitimate
controversy, the sphere of
consensus, and the sphere of
deviance.

18. Sphere of legitimate controversy:
• Press gives full coverage to the issues fall in
this categories. For instance, such as election
campaigns, shortcomings or gaffes of political
candidates.

19. Sphere of consensus:
• Media coverage of issues or matters like Iraq
war or the issues like heroic acts and military
interventions. Reporters don’t feel cowed in
such coverage.

20. Sphere of deviation
• This is the area where reporters or media
outlets hesitate. They don’t give due coverage
like the issue of AIDS, Race or Holocaust.