ABSTRACT
The traditional agenda-setting paradigm is based on an idea that the salience of any issue can be transferred from the media agenda to the public agenda. Regardless of the communication context, this salience transfer is accomplished as a result of “the emphases [placed on an issue by] the news media and the perceived importance of these topics to the news audience” (Protess and McCombs 1991). The packaging of mass media messages ensures that the villains are discernable from the victims (Protess, Cook, Curtin, Gordon, Leff, McCombs, and Milles 1987) and an issue’s priority relative to competing issues is understood. Tankard (2001, p. 97) notes that news framing “can eliminate voices, weaken arguments . . . and define the terms of a debate without the audience realizing that it is taking place.”
