Every year Project Censored posts a list of the twenty-five most censored news stories. These stories are "censored" not in the sense that the media are legally prohibited from covering them, but rather in the sense that most major media outlets have systematically ignored them and, in the process, determined what the public will think about. What theory explains this?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Agenda-setting theory suggests that the media has the power to shape public opinion by choosing which stories to cover and how to present them. The fact that major media outlets systematically ignore certain stories, as in the case of the most censored news stories, is evidence of this agenda-setting power.

Every Year Project Censored Posts a List of the Twenty-Five