Changes in public opinion for complex issues occurs in stages, maybe taking up to 10 years.
Dawning Awareness - only some aspects and some facts
Greater Urgency - know of the issue and believe it is important
-- maybe personally
Discovering the Choices - usually only the choices of visible or
credible public figures (often emotionally linked)
Wishful Thinking - resistance to tough choices, want services and
lower costs - disconnection between voters and leaders cause this, politicians
can exploit this.
Weighing the Choices - movement back and forth between D and E.
Involves the public (not leaders and others) actually determining choices
and balancing cost and benefits
3, 4, and 5 are all "working through it"
-- coming to a conclusion
Taking a Stand Intellectually
Making the Judgment Morally and Emotionally - people
first come to accept the idea in their minds, then in their hearts. Requires
moving beyond one's personal interests. (Fairly rare)
Theories of "MEDIA AGENDA SETTING"
Hypodermic Needle theory - injecting opinions into people - not much evidence supports
this. (focus was on attitudes not knowledge or awareness)
Now the focus is on Awareness Effects and Prioritization. TV seems to follow
newspapers.
WHO is setting the public/political agenda?
Media Messages?
Pack journalism?
Gatekeepers?
Politicians controlling stories? (Isn't it a dialectic?)
What puts an issue on the agenda?
Public opinion (note stages) of what's important
to me?
to others? to community?
Politicians responses to events and concerns?
The Media's questions to elite figures?
(How is agenda measured?)
There is some evidence for agenda setting
the media seems influence each other's agenda
major effects seem informational not opinion
more distant-less personal --> greater effect for the public.