A Comparative Study Of "Agenda Setting Theory" In New Media And Traditional Media

The agenda setting theory is firstly established by Mc Combs，M.E and Shaw, D.L.Agenda-setting theory descirbes the "ability of the news media to inlfuence the salience oftopics on the public agenda/1Essentially，the theory states that the more salient a news issueis-in terms of frequency and prominence of coverage? the more important news audienceswill regard the issue to be. Since the1968study, published in a1972edition of PublicOpinion Quarterly, more than400studies have been published on the agenda-setting flmctionof the mass media，and the theory continues to receive support even in today’s fragmentedmedia environment.With the development of the media technology, the background of Agenda-setting theoryhas been changed. Some new communication technology such as micro blog gave newchannels and models to the information distirbution. The new media like micro blog allowaudience to write easy text (less than140words) using wireless internet technology andinformation technology to convey information instantly? Micro blog makes audience expresstheir latest statues and ideas to mobile phone and Internet group (not only person) using shortmessage. A new wide coverage and high speed communication form has been built in themicro biogs by month to month.The author plans to take the “Li Mengmeug" case as example to compare the way ofagenda setting in the traditional media and new media environment and find out the changeof the traditional agenda setting theory.