Explain the concepts of newsmaking, agenda setting, and interpreting. What is the relationship between them, and why is this important to today's political reporting?
What will be an ideal response?
Answer:
An ideal response will:
1. Explain that newsmaking is the process of determining what is news and what is newsworthy, and discuss how this is a result of the picking and choosing from millions of possible stories to determine what will be reported as news. Discuss how this is weighted toward sensationalist stories.
2. Explain that agenda setting is the media's power to "decide what is to be decided," meaning what issues will be addressed by government. Incorporate the quote from the text by E.E. Schattschneider regarding this connection.
3. Explain how interpreting is the media's use of angles, or framing, that creates a context through which news stories are understood by citizens and conveys the meaning and consequences of those stories. Demonstrate this through a brief discussion of the use of framing storiesâ€"for example, good guys and bad guys, little guys versus big guys, or appearance versus realityâ€"and how this creates context for stories.
4. Discuss how these three factors combined grant the media a great deal of power in determining not only what is the daily news, but also what is going to be the subject of public debate and how those debates will be contextualized and understood. Explain how this creates a process by which the media lead the public, as opposed to inform the public, and how this could pose a risk to the overall democratic character of the country.
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