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Mass Media Role in Shaping Public Opinion
Introduction
Mass media is one the innovative technology that plays a very significant role in shaping
public opinion. Most information gathered by people is often, aside from personal experiences,
from mass media. As such, how the information is portrayed often goes a long way in shaping
people's opinion about the specific information. As mass media is the principal means through
which people receive information about various subjects that they may not interact with on a
daily basis, the images created in people's minds are mainly based on how they portray this
information. The range of areas in which mass media constructs public opinions is extensive and
includes, disability, the environment, political issues and policies, economic development and
climate change. The influence that mass media has in the construction of public opinion does not
merely mean that people take information from the media without critiquing it.
The construction of public opinions is based on some factors. Mass media is vital in the
setting of agenda as well as in aiding to focus the interest of the public in particular subjects
(Happer & Philoa, 2013). Their role in the focusing on specific themes limits the scope and the
perspectives that inform public debate. Public debate can thus be termed to arise from subjects
that mass media decide to focus and report. For example, when mass media focus on aspects
such as failures of a specific policy implemented or the achievements of another, public debate is
often poised to focus on the same issue. Public opinion will also be based on the information that
the public will garner from mass media. As such, public opinion may be formed in agreement
with the message given through mass media or critiquing the message conveyed by mass media.
As McCombs explains, the media helps set the agenda for which issues are essential and
which are not (McCombs, 2011). This is based on the length of time spent on reporting on it, the
