Agenda Setting

I will be honest and say that I voted for Barack Obama. The mainstream media also seemed to be behind the Democratic candidate even though they struggled to remain objective in their reporting I'm sure it was had to do so as the nation was being swept up in Obamamania.




Was it on the American media's "agenda" to get Barack Obama elected President of the United States? Maybe.

He is Number 44 on the List of Stuff Journalists Like.

The Media Research Center, which bills itself as America's Media Watchdog, was highly critical of the mainstream media during the 2008 presidential election for its praiseful coverage of the presidential candidate.

But if Barack Obama leads this country into an untimely demise (i.e. the economy doesn't recover, there's another terrorist attack or China calls in all those loans) will the media again be criticized for playing the cheerleader role like it was after the Iraq War went poorly?

The Phoenix advisor Bob Herguth and I have this discussion time and time again because I want to tell the story exactly how it happens and he always wants me to play up the most sensational parts. In my opinion, that would be agenda-setting because I'm choosing what's most important for my readers instead of giving them all the information and letting them decide.

I know what it means to pull the most interesting information into my lead to make sure my readers stay engaged in the story, however, I'm torn between playing up the most interesting parts to the point where everything that might be important to readers but I deemed unimportant doesn't even make it into the final draft.

It's a fine line that journalists walk, but if we don't walk that line then both the profession and our viewers lose out.




P.S. (I chose that video because even though I'm already critical of some of Barack Obama's policies it still gives me chills. When LeeAnn covered the event in Grant Park she was dying to write a firsthand report because she was having trouble not cheerleading because the emotion of the election was so high and meant so much you would have to be a robot not to feel it.)