An example of agenda setting

Example of the strengths of Agenda Setting throughout Kevin Rudd’s 07 Election:

Strengths of agenda setting throughout the form of the Kevin 07 election which as we all know won Kevin Rudd the 2007 election.

Kevin Rudd’s campaign was frequently visible throughout the media throughout 2007 which heavily influenced individuals’ decisions to election Rudd as the next Prime Minister of Australia.

It was evident that this campaign was more of a popularity contest, rather than a political campaign. You may remember several appearances of Kevin Rudd, on talk show host Rove Mc Manus, appealing to a younger audience.

This is just one example of how television media was extremely influential within the campaign and how effective and persuasive agenda setting can be towards a particular issue, agenda setting played a key part and the success of Rudd’s “Kevin 07” election and displays that agenda setting throughout the form of media is successful throughout political campaigns.


Severin, and Tankard explore the ‘Cultivation Theory’ which was developed in 1980 to explain the effects of ‘television viewing’ on people’s perceptions, attitudes and values.

They argue that “Television has become a key member of the family, the one who tells most of the stories most of the time” as millions of people around the world watch television it would be

Noelle- Neumann’s theory of public opinion is formed through a process called the spiral of Silence.

Noelle states that on a Controversial Issue, people form impressions about the distribution of public opinion. They try to determine whether they are in the majority, and then they try to determine whether public opinion is changing to agree with them.

Noelle argues that the mass media do have powerful effects on public opinion but these effects have been underestimated.