Global News Agenda

We are living in a world where millions of events are taking place simultaneously. Media organizations and institutions have employed thousands of people to observe those events and report them. The news media tell us which issues are important and which ones are not. We have never seen the war situations of Afghanistan , Iraq , Palestine and Kashmir with our own eyes. Even then we have pictures of these disputed areas in our minds. The media's daily reports inform us about the latest events and changes taking place in the world beyond our reach. As a result of this phenomenon, most of our perceptions about the world are a second-hand reality created by the media organizations. There is no assurance and no guarantee that this reality is an accurate picture of the world. Media organizations have their own aims and objectives. Throughout the world, most of the media organizations are owned by non-media owners. The majority of them are owned by the huge business groups like the General Electric Company that owns a number of TV channels, radio stations and newspapers in the USA.

■       World Media is Controlled by one supper power.

■       Their only agenda is to promote them and make coverage according to their own interest.

■       Media scholars have attempted to identify the key variables that shape the complicated international news selection process.

■       Television news programs serve as an important source of information.

■       Television news gatekeepers often select some nations as more newsworthy than other nations.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS COVERAGE

■       Coverage of international news often focuses on select nations while abandoning coverage of most nations around the world. The lack of balance in coverage of nations by US media has been empirically examined by several studies.

■       Golan’s (2003) content analysis of 1300 television newscasts found that 20 nations accounted for more than 80 percent of the overall international news coverage. The analysis revealed that the majority of third world nations received limited or no coverage.

■       Since many Americans learn about the world from watching television (Larson, 1984), a lack of balance in coverage may influence public opinion of nations and international affairs.

■       Wanta et al. (2004) analyzed the relationship between international news coverage and American opinion of world affairs. The authors found that the more media coverage a nation received, the more likely people were to think the nation was important to US interests. Furthermore, they found that the more negatively a nation was covered by television newscasts, the more negatively Americans thought about that nation.

Conclusion:

 It can be concluded that the mass media can play a pivotal role in changing the minds of the people. Because of the agenda setting role of mass media, the media agenda becomes the public agenda with the passage of time. The theory supports the concept of the strong media effects. Now it becomes the responsibility of the media organizations to play a responsible role in their agenda setting, because ultimately it will become public agenda. The theory puts a high responsibility on the shoulders of media organizations because their irresponsible behavior can damage the national interest.