Maxwell McCombs' discusses the idea of agenda setting in his article, "The Agenda Setting Role of the Mass Media in the Shaping of Public Opinion." Agenda-setting is when the media dictates the issues that are presented to the public- usually only a few, dominating issues. These issues may include the presidential election, and the war in Iraq. We then hold this idea that these are the two most important issues in the news. Perhaps they are, but many news stories get lost and unreported as a result of this agenda setting. "Bread and butter" issues such as the prices of gas, which the public is very interested in, often don't get much airtime. Important issues, such as education, don't get much coverage because there is rarely any "breaking news" about education- however, there are many policical, social, economic, and practical issues that arise from education that the media could be reporting on day to day.
Agenda setting not only dictates which issues are important- but also how we percieve those issues.
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