Agenda-Setting and the Presidential Election: The agenda-setting function of mass media has largely been influenced by concerns regarding news coverage and the public's view about the significance of the stories covered by mass media. Consequently, some theorists have stated that news editors and anchors have a relatively significant impact on determining the public's views of social reality. While there were concerns on the ability of a particular story covered by news media to affect the public's attitudes and opinions, mass media has a huge influence on people's thinking and perception. This is because mass media influence the amount of thinking that people engage in regarding a particular story, which can lead to an increase on the relative importance of that specific issue (DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach, p. 264).

One of the major influences that the agenda-setting function of mass media has had on shaping public perceptions is presidential elections. Based on the findings of a research, there is a vital correlation between media coverage and the public's opinion regarding the importance of a political issue. This has resulted in the development of the concept political advertising in the recent past, particularly on negative political advertising that has increased in the past few decades. However, negative political advertisements have not always been accepted in a positive light since the process of voter absorption of information from negative ads is more difficult than anticipated.

Agenda-Setting Function and the 2008 Presidential Election:

The powerful influence...

New stories about politicians and the country's citizens largely impacted the public view on politicians and public discourse. During the 2008 presidential campaign the agenda-setting function of mass media was evident through various measures such as the concept of a powerful U.S. media. The ability of this function of mass media was demonstrated in several ways including gradual popularity of Barack Obama, the first African-American president, who was a relatively unpopular politician from 2002-2006. Secondly, because of the extensive media coverage, the 2008 presidential campaigns resulted in a record high voter turnout as compared to previous elections especially during John F. Kennedy's presidential campaigns. The other evidence of this function was the exceptional hybrid-campaign involving the convergence between old and new media during the election campaign (Vangshardt & Bjerre-Poulsen, p. 9).
As revealed in the above observations, mass media was an influential factor during the 2008 presidential campaigns and is largely considered as a major factor that has changed the landscape of political campaigns. During these campaigns, the impact of the agenda-setting function of mass media is notable, particularly because of the immense increase in the use and volume of mass communication. Similar to other presidential campaigns, the U.S. mass media played a significant role in providing important campaign coverage and reliable political information during the 2008 presidential campaigns.

Major Issues during the 2008 Presidential Elections:

One of the most notable aspects in the 2008 presidential election was that candidates of major parties campaigned on the platform of reform and change in the United States. However, the main themes that…