STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES OF THE MEDIA AGENDA SETTING

The strengths of the Media Agenda-Setting includes the claim that it has predictive power due to the fact that it anticipates that if the masses are frequently exposed to the same media, the probability of them thinking alike of issues or having the same opinion about issues is very high. Again, it has an organizing power. This is to say that most people see the same issues as important. It also help arrange the already known knowledge of the media effects.Moreover, it has explanatory power because it explains why most people go for one particular piece of information.

However, the theory also has its weaknesses which includes the fact the media users may not be as ideal as the theory assumes. People may not be well-informed, deeply engaged in public affairs, thoughtful and skeptical. Instead, they may pay only casual attention to public affairs and remain ignorant of the details. For people who have made up their minds, the effect is weakened. News media cannot create or conceal problems, they may only alter the awareness, priorities and salience people attached to a set of problems. Research has largely been inconclusive in establishing a causal relationship between public salience and media coverage.