Thesis On The Transmutation Of "Agenda Setting" Hypothesis In The New Age

The presentation of agenda setting hypothesis is established based on the traditional media environment. The forcible propagators, the passive audience and the limited traditional media resources provide active and objective guarantee for the media setting agenda, however, time passes and the situation has changed, presently, the media environment has changed greatly: the media resources have been enriched, the initiative of audience has been enhanced and the dissemination right of network has been popularized. Therefore, the hypothesis of "agenda setting" is doubted in the new age. This paper probes into the impact of three aspects of media environment in the new age on the agenda setting hypothesis and forecasts its future in the new age. (of course, at first, we shall review the generation, development and inherent defects of "agenda setting" to reinforce our analysis basis). Specifically, to illustrate from the micro/ macro environment of mass media operation and the presence of most typical network media in the new age;First of all, from the microenvironment of media operation, the enriching media resources enable the media to meet the demands of audience more selfconsciously and tends to resume as the agency between the society and audience as the differentiation of audience. Media appears to serve the audience and audience is primary and preexisting. However, in the times when the media resources are not rich, the scarce rights enable the media to set agenda at will without considering the demands of audience. Therefore, with the enriching media resources, the audience becomes the scarce resources and is seized by all medium. However, while the media is satisfying the differencing and minimized audience, it differentiates itself and becomes scattered. It becomes the media providing individualized service for small audience. So, it has no ability to form public topic and tends to disaggregate. It will finally be diffused in the audience and society and resume to be the agency of society and audience. Secondly, from the macro environment for media operation, with the prevailing of nationalization, liberalization, commercialization, market orientation and consumerism, more and more political and economic factors are involved in the mass media's agenda setting. In the modern society, the media politics is rather developed and media has become the tool of politics as well as the infuser to maintain and support the existing order and the important carrier of ruling class's ideology. Meanwhile, since the business mode has its own internal logic, because of monopoly to specific consortia or dependence of super advertisement, the business mode tends to erode the public space, as a result, the media is at the end of the generation of democratic passion, which is expected upon its generation. Under the constraint of politics and economy, the mass media is hard to move forward. Finally, the network era toppled the traditional media environment in which the mass media sets our understanding and sets our important agenda on the society, enabling the manifestation of mass media setting agenda change: the main body of setting agenda transfers to the passive audience. Because of the interactivity, promptness, magnanimity and participation of network, the network media becomes the dominant and operable platform that the audience sets topic independently, and, the audience can participate in the discussion and steer the development of topic. On the other hand, the audience can set topic according to the interaction of network media and traditional media to show their participation. Therefore, the audience becomes the main body of setting agenda and show themselves on the stage. However, we shall not assume that "agenda setting" has been the past. The author believes that if there is contradiction between the finiteness of mass media reports and the infinity of social change; if there are significance differences in the media report; the audience can only experience the fact that they cannot see themselves by the media. The "agenda setting" is still effective. But, under the media environment of the new age, the mass media's ability to set agenda has been weakened and cannot have its way at will as in the past. It tends to resume its original meaning- bridge connecting the society and audience. Meanwhile, during the agenda establishment, more and more factors including political and economic factors have been infused. More importantly, the main body for setting agenda has been transferred to the audience who used to be the target of mass media. In a word, "agenda setting" is still valid in the new age but changes to some extent in company with the conditions of the new age.