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Be it a Tsunami or hurricane Katrina; election campaigning in America, England or Germany; AIG or Volkswagen; the intensity of media coverage guarantees global attention. It also has its consequences: in case of the Tsunami rescue organizations were able to draw on donations as long as the pictures of people suffering were screened around the world. In the case of Katrina the pictures created a different effect: instead of increased donations, the media audience felt stronger about not supporting America, as long as the Bush administration is in Government. Pictures alone are no longer the main criterion, the accompanying message are becoming more and more relevant.
The reaction of people following election campaigns’ coverage is similar to that of coverage on natural disasters. In America it was Bush or Kerry; in England Blair and the now forgotten opposing candidate; and in Germany Schroeder/Merkel that debated issues borrow from the media agenda. Questions around environment, education or pension remained largely unchallenged, since journalists kept them below the awareness threshold in terms of coverage. In Germany, this has now led for a second time in three years to a discussion about election fraud. In 2002 it focused on politicians who allegedly and conveniently ‘forgot’ to make relevant problematic issues transparent (is this not actually the job of the media?). In 2005 the allegations were brought forward by the chancellor himself, accusing the media of bias because they allegedly no longer gave him the same support as in 1998 when he openly declared that he would govern with the help of “Bild, BamS (Germany’s largest tabloid papers) and TV”. Back in 1998 this did not create any debate in the media and whether 2005 will be any different as well the issue of quality of political coverage in the media arena, will be one of the issues discussed during the workshop “Agenda Setting and Election Campaigning’ in this upcoming Agenda Setting Conference here in Lugano.
Media have an impact – and the fact that this statement is no longer in doubt is largely due to the intensive and groundbreaking studies by Max McCombs, Donald Shaw, David Weaver, Wayne Wanta and the many scientists that have for decades been researching issues around Agenda Setting, Cutting and lately Surfing. We welcome them to Lugano, particularly because it is no longer a question around an ‘if’, but already about the ‘how’, ‘since when’ and ‘how long’ and, even more recently ‘with what consequences’. The 6th international Agenda Setting Conference is looking at these challenges with a diverse range of topics: examples from politics, the corporate sector and society will be utilized to highlight that Agenda Setting has an impact on all aspects of life, from the question of what movie to watch, to the decision in which shares to invest.
Roland Schatz
Founder and CEO Media Tenor
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