First off I would like to start off by posting the link for anyone interested in reading into the details of my post. The link can be found here: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/20/politics/us-senate-mcconnell/index.html. Now I will view this article from an agenda setting perspective. I feel as though this article is a good choice to be looked at from this theory because the article tries to grab your attention immediately, starting with the title. The title “New senate is just like the old Senate” has a negative undertone, even if the old senate was good and effective. The article starts by playing to our emotions towards the government. Most people feel a certain way toward the government and more often than not those feelings are negative. So we are primed to think negatively about the government, including the senate, from the get-go and the article is framed around that mindset starting with the title.
More specifically we are primed to think that both sides of the senate do not get along with each other. This story plays right into that priming by the way it frames the first paragraph, stating, “Governing is much tougher than it looks, even for a Master of the Senate like Mitch McConnell. Claiming the majority he had long craved in the mid-term elections, the wily GOP leader promised to turn the polarized, gridlocked Senate back into a chamber in which both sides get a say and pass meaningful legislation.” It frames the story towards the way our minds are primed and then goes in for the kill in the very next sentence stating, “McConnell’s vow was not just altruistic.” Before we can even decide for ourselves whether McConnell has succeeded or failed the opinion is already made for us, “the same old senate”. Everything about the way we are primed and the way the article is framed is bound up nicely in the first two paragraphs, telling us exactly what we should think based on what we already do.
This article is a perfect example of agenda setting- an example is this quote from it: “But by then, it may be too late to stop ill feelings over the nomination from poisoning whatever goodwill is left in the Senate, setting a bad precedent for the rest of the year.” Agenda setting tells its readers what to think about. In this case, they are being primed to consider the upcoming primaries. According to the textbook on page 111, “in focusing the public’s attention on a particular object or issue in preference to another object or issue”. The article appears on the CNN website. CNN’s agenda is usually slanted towards a more liberal stance. Would an article with this content appear on a Fox News site since they are more conservative? News sources have moved beyond being neutral. Fewer topics are reported on with more frequency. We as students should be compelled to question not the fact that there is bias in news reporting, and also to question and critical considedr what agenda do these sources have.
Debbie