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FRAMING & SPIRAL OF SILENCE:Spiral of Silence, Assessing public opinion

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Theories of Communication ­ MCM 511
VU
LESSON 34
FRAMING & SPIRAL OF SILENCE
Two levels of agenda setting
In addition to considering contingency factors that might influence agenda setting, other theorists have
extended the theory to consider different levels of agenda setting. McCombs, Shaw and Weaver in 1997
make the distinction between first and second level agenda setting.
First level agenda setting
First level agenda setting examines the amount of coverage an object receives, while second ­level
agenda setting examines how that object is presented. First level agenda setting deals with the objects on
the media and public agendas. This is the traditional domain of agenda-setting research in which media
are seen as influencing what issues are included on the public agenda.
Second-level agenda setting
Second-level agenda setting considers attributes of these objects. At this level , the media not only
suggest what the public think about but also influence how people should think about the issue. Thus,
the `agenda of attributes' covered in the media sets the `agenda of attributes' for the public. Limited by
time and space, news directors often have to select only a handful of stories, while leaving dozens of
news stories off the air.
News selection is at the heart of the agenda-setting process since the issues that fail to pass through the
gatekeepers of the news also fail to give salience cues regarding the relative importance of the issues.
This is particularly true of international news events that happen beyond the direct experience of most
news consumers.
Framing
The concept of framing is central to a consideration of second-level agenda setting. In the context of
agenda setting framing is a process through which the media emphasize some aspects of reality and
downplay other aspects.
Framing is "the subtle selection of certain aspects of an issue by the media to make them more
important and thus to emphasize a particular cause of some phenomenon".
To frame, according to Entman, is to "select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more
salient in a communication text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, casual
interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described. Framing can
be accomplished through the consideration of a particular subtopics, through the narrative form and tone
of the presentation, and through particular details included in the media coverage. It is as a result of
factors such as framing that Dearing and Rogers conclude "under certain conditions the media of mass
communication tell us how to think about issues and, therefore, what to think".
This conclusion - stronger than the traditional agenda-setting outlook - indicates the importance of the
media agenda, and consequently the power associated with those who influence this agenda.
The literature on agenda setting is voluminous and wide ranging. Rogers, Dearing and Bregman in 1993
note over 200 articles onto topic in their bibliographic review, and many more have been published
since then. This review, however, points out that there are a number of ways to define the boundaries of
the agenda ­setting tradition.
These could be referred to as broad scope definitions of the theory or narrow ­scope approaches. The
broad-scope definition of agenda setting involves the consideration of three related agendas:
1. The media agenda is the set of topics addressed by media sources e.g. newspapers television, radio.
2. The public agenda is the set of topics that members of the public believes is important.
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Theories of Communication ­ MCM 511
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3. Finally, the policy agenda represents issues that decision-makers (e.g. legislators and those who
influence the legislative process) believe are particularly salient.
Spiral of Silence
A somewhat more controversial theory of media and public opinion is the concept of spiral of silence.
This can be regarded as a form of agenda-setting but one that is focused on Macro-level rather than
micro-level consequences.
In the words of its originator Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann:
"observations made in one context the mass media spread to another and encouraged people either to
proclaim their views or to swallow them and keep quite until , in a spiraling process, the one view
dominated the public scene and the other disappeared from public awareness as its adherents became
mute , this is the process that can be called a spiral of silence'.
In other words, because of people's fear of isolation or separation from those around them, they end to
keep their attitudes to themselves when they think they are in the minority. The media, because of a
variety of factors, tend to present one (or at most two ) sides of an issue to the exclusion of others,
which further encourages those people to keep quiet and makes it even tougher for the media to uncover
and register that opposing viewpoint.
So Noelle-Neumann's focus is not on micro-level conceptualizations of how average people come to
perceive the public agenda; rather she is concerned with the macro-level, long-term consequences of
such perceptions.
If various viewpoints about agenda items are ignored , marginalized , or trivialized by media reports,
then people will be reluctant to talk about them .As time passes, those viewpoints will cease to heard in
public and therefore cannot affect political decision-making. She argued that her perspective involves a
return to the concept of powerful mass media. During the summer and fall of 1965, Elisabeth Noelle-
Neuman, the head of a prominent public opinion research institute in Germany, observed an interesting
phenomenon. They observed the two major parties election in German election.
The phenomenon in which predictions about the outcome seemed to sway the attitudes and behaviors of
voters, led Noelle-Neumann to formulate the theory that has come to be known as the spiral of silence
theory.
The theory was first formulated and tested to explain puzzling findings in German politics where
opinion poll findings were inconsistent with other data concerning expectations of who would win an
election and signally failed to predict the result.
The explanation offered was that the media were offering a misleading view of the opinion consensus.
They were said to be leaning in a leftist direction, against the underlying opinion of the silent majority.
The concept of the spiral of silence from a larger body of theory of public opinion which was developed
and tested by Noelle-Neumann over a number of years. The relevant theory concerns the interplay
between four elements:
1.
Mass media
2.
Interpersonal communication and social relations
3.
Individual expressions of opinion
4.
And the perceptions which individuals have of surrounding climate of opinion in their own
social environment.
Fear of Isolation
So the main assumptions of the theory are as follows:-
Society threatens deviant individuals with isolation. Individuals experience fear of isolation
continuously .This fear of isolation causes individuals to try to assess the climate of opinion at all times.
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The results of this estimate affect their behavior in public, especially their willingness or not to express
opinions openly.
Noelle-Neumann begins by proposing that individual have a strong need to connected to a social
collective and that cohesiveness within that collective must be constantly ensured. She bases some of
this reasoning on the experiments done in social psychology which demonstrates that individuals will
not express opinions and behavior in ways that they know are wrong in order to avoid social censure
(disapproval) and criticism and to remain part of the crowd. She notes that this force is one driven by
fear of ostracism (exclusion) and fear of isolation, not by desire to be part of the winning team or on the
bandwagon.
Assessing public opinion
Given this fear of isolation it is important for individuals to be able to gauge public opinion, for in order
to fit in on a particular issue, you need to know what others think about that issue; ideas relevant to an
individual's assessment of public opinion.
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Table of Contents:
  1. COMMUNICATION:Nature of communication, Transactional approach, Communication is symbolic:
  2. THEORY, PARADIGM AND MODEL (I):Positivistic Perspective, Critical Perspective
  3. THEORY, PARADIGM AND MODEL (II):Empirical problems, Conceptual problems
  4. FROM COMMUNICATION TO MASS COMMUNICATION MODELS:Channel
  5. NORMATIVE THEORIES:Authoritarian Theory, Libertarian Theory, Limitations
  6. HUTCHINS COMMISSION ON FREEDOM, CHICAGO SCHOOL & BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORY
  7. CIVIC JOURNALISM, DEVELOPMENT MEDIA THEORY & DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPANT THEORY
  8. LIMITATIONS OF THE PRESS THEORY:Concentration and monopoly, Commercialism
  9. MCQUAIL’S FOUR KINDS OF THEORIES:Social scientific theory, Critical theory
  10. PROPAGANDA THEORIES:Origin of Propaganda, Engineering of Consent, Behaviorism
  11. PARADIGM SHIFT & TWO STEP FLOW OF INFORMATION
  12. MIDDLE RANGE THEORIES:Background, Functional Analysis Approach, Elite Pluralism
  13. KLAPPER’S PHENOMENSITIC THEORY:Klapper’s Generalizations, Criticism
  14. DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION THEORY:Innovators, Early adopters
  15. CHALLENGING THE DOMINANT PARADIGM:Catharsis Social learning Social cognitive theory
  16. SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEROY:Symbolizing Capacity, MODELLING
  17. MODELING FROM MASS MEDIA:Recent research, Summary, PRIMING EFFECTS
  18. PRIMING EFFECT:Conceptual Roots, Perceived meaning, Percieved justifiability
  19. CULTIVATION OF PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL REALITY:History
  20. SYSTEMS THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION PROCESSES:System
  21. EMERGENCE OF CRITICAL & CULTURAL THEORIES OF MASS COMMUNICATION
  22. REVISION:Positivistic perspective, Interpretive Perspective, Inductive approach
  23. CRITICAL THEORIES & ROLE OF MASS COMMUNICATION IN A SOCIETY -THE MEDIATION OF SOCIAL RELATIONS
  24. ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN SOCIAL ORDER & MARXIST THEORY:Positive View
  25. KEY PRINCIPLES USED IN MARXISM:Materialism, Class Struggle, Superstructure
  26. CONSUMER SOCIETY:Role of mass media in alienation, Summary of Marxism
  27. COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE:Neo Marxism, Characteristics of Culture
  28. HEGEMONY:What exactly is the meaning of "hegemony"?
  29. CULTURE INDUSTRY:Gramscianism on Communications Matters
  30. POLITICAL ECONOMIC THEORY I:Internationalization, Vertical Integration
  31. POLITICAL ECONOMIC THEORY II:Diversification, Instrumental
  32. POLITICAL ECONOMIC THEORY III:Criticism, Power of Advertising
  33. AGENDA SETTING THEORY:A change in thinking, First empirical test
  34. FRAMING & SPIRAL OF SILENCE:Spiral of Silence, Assessing public opinion
  35. SPIRAL OF SILENCE:Fear of isolation, Assessing public opinion, Micro-level
  36. MARSHALL MCLUHAN: THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE AND MASSAGE
  37. KNOWLEDGE GAP THEORY:Criticism on Marshal McLuhan
  38. MEDIA SYSTEM DEPENDENCY THEORY:Media System Dependency Theory
  39. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY:Methods
  40. RECEPTION THEORY
  41. FRAMING AND FRAME ANALYSIS:Information Processing Theory, Summing up
  42. TRENDS IN MASS COMMUNICATION I:Communication Science, Direct channels
  43. TRENDS IN MASS COMMUNICATION II:Communication Maxims, Emotions
  44. GLOBALIZATION AND MEDIA:Mediated Communication, Post Modernism
  45. REVISION:Microscopic Theories, Mediation of Social Relations