Theoryin Practice Paper PDF

Preview

Summary

research paper on agenda setting ...

Description

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

1

Agenda Setting in Missing Richard Simmons Podcast Can a public figure step away from the spotlight in our celebrity-obsessed culture? This is the exact question this paper seeks to answer about the Missing Richard Simmons podcast through the agenda setting theory. The agenda setting theory suggests that the media sets the public agenda in that they do not tell individuals what to think, but instead what to think about (McCombs & Shaw, 1972). This is becoming clear in the growing field and popularity of podcasts. Podcasts are a way for media to direct the narrative of a story or news topic. A podcast is a “digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player” (Skiba, 2006). The lifeblood of the podcast is that people can listen to these anytime, anywhere, on multiple devices. Podcasts are able to create an intimate relationship between the storyteller and the listener, because it can feel like a private conversation between the two. The main allurement of the podcast is the narrator’s ability to sell the story making the narrator, him or herself, a selling point of the podcast (Locke, 2017). This means that the story being told is directly filtered through whoever is doing the storytelling (Deb, 2017). Whoever is doing the storytelling is setting the public agenda on that topic. This paper will examine the agenda setting theory in relation to the Missing Richard Simmons podcast and how this theory has directed the narrative from an issue salience to attribute salience agenda-setting level. The agenda setting theory states that the media do not tell people what to think, but what to think about (Baran & Davis, 2015). Although this theory dates back to Walter Lippmann (1922) through his connection between world events and images in the public mind, the introduction credit goes to Bernard Cohen. Cohen (1963), he stated that the press “may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

2

telling readers what to think about” (p. 13; Baran & Davis, 2015, p. 264). The theory was advanced by McCombs and Shaw (1972) through research they conducted during the 1968 presidential election. The study, called the “Chapel Hill study,” examined what residents of Chapel Hill, NC thought were the most important issues of the election and how that compared to what the local and national news were covering as salient issues (McCombs & Shaw, 1972; McCombs & Shaw, 1993; McCombs, 2005). There are two basic assumptions to the agenda setting theory. One, is that the press and media do not reflect reality, but instead they filter and shape it. And two, media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues (Freeland, 2012). Both of these assumptions are structured within time and accessibility, meaning that topics must be timely in order to become salient. Accessibility highlights that the more frequently and prominently the news media covers an issue the more that issue becomes accessible in the viewer’s memory (Iyengar & Kinder, 1987). In other words, how much or how recently a viewer has been exposed to specific news information. Higgins (1996) found that individuals try to make less cognitive efforts in forming judgements, and are more apt to reply on information that is easily accessible in their memories. Viewers are exposed to and learn not only about a specific issue or news story, but also learn how much overall importance is attached to that piece of information. McCombs et al. (1997) went on to further the agenda setting theory by forming a new theory, called second-order agenda setting. Here McCombs argued that agenda-setting operates on two levels: the object level and the attribute level (Baran & Davis, 2015). The object level is when media tell viewers what to think about, and this is where most of conventional agenda setting research has been conducted. This level focuses on the perceived importance by the

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

3

media of specific information. The attribute level is where media tell viewers how to think about specific information. This level focuses on how the media describe the information, which then sets the tone for how the information is defined by viewers. Second-order agenda setting, also called attribute agenda-setting or second-level agenda setting, moves from issue salience to attribute salience (McCombs et al., 1997). This transition is noticeable in the popular podcast, Missing Richard Simmons. Richard Simmons has been “missing” for three years from the public view which was the basis for Dan Taberski, a former producer of The Daily Show, to create the Missing Richard Simmons podcast. Missing Richard Simmons is a six-episode podcast that looks at the possible reasons why Richard Simmons chose to step out of the public eye (Storey, 2017). The podcast is “part ode to Richard and part tabloid probe” in that it includes speculations on why Simmons left the public eye including gender transitioning, mental breakdowns, and being held hostage by his housekeeper (Harnish, 2017). Simmons has not been seen publicly since February 2014. He has ceased all communication with friends and former students and stopped teaching exercise classes after 40 years at his exercise studio in Beverly Hills. In October 2016, Simmons left the following note on the door of his exercise studio for patrons, “It’s been over forty years now, and I am finally taking my own advice. I am being kind to myself, and putting myself first. I am making changes and taking time to do the things I want to do. Please know that I am in good health and I am happy. No one has ever been able to tell me what to do and the same is true today. I am still independent, determined, and opinionated. I simply am making a new beginning for myself – quietly and in my very own special way (Petit, 2016). Simmons, however, is still talking to his manager, housekeeper and family, including his brother and sister-in law. He has also called into Entertainment Tonight and The Today Show to put listeners’ minds at ease. Simmons called into The Today Show on March 13, 2016 and told the host, Savannah Guthrie, that he was at his home and was doing fine (France, 2016). He stated,

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

4

“You know I do what I want to do as I’ve always done, so people should sort of just believe what I have to say because, like, I’m Richard Simmons!” (France, 2016). Simmons simply wanted time alone away from the public eye. According to Taberski, the purpose of the Missing Richard Simmons podcast is simple: he misses his friend. He believes that Simmons was a man who got close to and loved so many people and would never just walk away from them (Holmes, 2017). Taberski, however, states that he is concerned not that Simmons left the public eye but is concerned because he cut off communication from everyone (Deb, 2017). Taberski chose the podcast format because he knew the story needed an element of intimacy. Taberski took classes from Simmons and had a friendship with him by connecting through his fitness studio. This friendship was a vital component of the podcast. Taberski felt that because the podcast needed a narrator, he could use his voice to show his love for Simmons and get his point of view across to the listeners (Storey, 2017). Because Simmons had a history of being so public with his life, switching to no communication with anyone is difficult for his fans to understand. However, Hess (2017) stated that the relationship between journalists and subjects should not be confused with friendship, because journalists have power over their subjects and a responsibility to them. Although not a newspaper or live broadcast, a podcast should hold the same amount of responsibility to report the truth and not sensationalism. The distressing notion for this podcast is that it now becomes a public hounding including spinning a non-story into a news story. Larson (2017) stated that when millions of people tune into a podcast that expose the real lives of real people in real time, the subject’s day-to-day lives can change drastically, dramatically, and quickly with no warrant of their own. Although Taberski and Simmons were friends, Locke (2017) stated that when your friend won’t return

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

5

your call, choosing to then speculate about their personal life to a mass audience no longer seems like an act of friendship. There are three pertinent problems with the Missing Richard Simmons podcast in relation to agenda setting, including second-level agenda setting, agenda building, and privacy breakdowns. The object level of second-level agenda setting is when the media tells viewers, or podcast listeners, what to think about. Taberski, as the media outlet, is telling his listeners to think about Simmons and to theorize reasons for why he chose to leave the public eye. However, Simmons does not want this. He wants to be left alone, wants to be out of the public eye, and has said this on numerous times. The media and Taberski in this case, are doing the exact opposite of what Simmons wants by setting a contradictory agenda and drawing him back out into the public eye through their speculations. An example of this is when the podcast story even made it to the 2016 presidential campaign trail. Donald Trump promised to liberate Simmons, in a joking manner, if he became president (Deb, 2017). The attribute level of second-level agenda setting is when the media tells viewers, or listeners, what to think about. Taberski said that he felt that one reason for this podcast was to redirect the narrative about who Simmons is. He feels that Simmons has become campy and somewhat of a joke over the years and he wants to focus on Simmons’s altruism rather than his shtick (Locke, 2017). However, Taberski and the media outlets then covering this podcast are redirecting the narrative instead to the weird and speculatory stories including possible elder abuse at the hands of the housekeeper. The bizarre and inappropriate stories are what they are telling the listeners to think about in relation to Simmons. Larson (2017) found Taberski to be somewhat invasive in his reporting and narration by specifically calling out the time when he compared Simmons calling in to The Today Show on the phone and not on a video chat, to a

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

6

movie scene where a kidnapper holds a gun to a victim’s head. This kind of conjured imagery is telling listeners that they should think about Simmons as being a hostage or in an unsafe environment, even though there is no proof of this. Agenda setting has a macro-level implication which is agenda building. Baran and Davis (2015), define agenda building as “a collective process in which media, government, and the citizenry reciprocally influence on another in areas of public policy” (p. 266). That is, creating a process where the reciprocity between the media and society influences the interest of public policymakers. In the case of Missing Richard Simmons, policy may not yet be changed from this podcast, but the reciprocity between Taberski (media) and the listeners (society) do influence policymakers. Because of this podcast, Simmons has had the police visit his hour twice for elder abuse concerns where both times police reported him as being fine (Andrews, 2017). Hess (2017) noted that specific podcast tactics were used to assist in agenda building including framing the story like a mystery, crowdsourcing clues from the audience, and focusing on the narrator as much as the subject. Utilizing these specific tactics assisted Taberski in creating an intimate storytelling session and tale that became quite real for listeners and previous fans and friends of Simmons. However, Holmes (2017) and Larson (2017) argue that what Simmons gave his students was not friendship in the terms that he could not possibly reciprocate a true friendship with all of them. Holmes (2017) even states that what he gave was perhaps more on the scale of therapy, and therapy is not friendship. An additional problem stemming from this podcast deals with privacy. For more than 40 years, Simmons built a career on empathy, charm, vulnerability, campiness, and being in the public eye (Larson, 2017). However, now is he asking for people to respect his privacy and new boundaries and they are not listening. Simmons was the first mainstream fitness celebrity to

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

7

build an empire on the idea that people who do not fit the perfect mold still need a place to sweat, work out, and be seen (Harnish, 2017). His fans still want this. Taberski, a fan himself, has said he will not give up, because he says “a lot of people who know him and whose lives have been changed by him, they’re worried. Or angry. Or full of grief. Some want to save him, some just want to know he’s ok” (Foley, 2017). However, Simmons’s fans do not get to decide how and if Simmons should say goodbye to them. Agenda setting is putting the power here in the hands of the fans, instead of Simmons would should be able to control and protect his own life and have that be respected. Taberski did note that he asked Simmons to be the subject of a firstperson documentary once, but never stated in the article if Simmons was interested or not (Deb, 2017; Hess, 2017). This podcast is a significant intrusion of privacy. Simmons’s manager, Michael Catalano, said that this podcast brought up old rumors including that Simmons was transitioning his gender, had suffered a mental breakdown, or was being held hostage by his housekeeper, which lead to unwanted attention (Associated Press, 2017; Foley, 2017). Taberski listed the four theories the follows in this podcast, which include: 1) he is being held hostage by his housekeeper, 2) he is recovering from knee surgery, 3) the death of his dog sent him into a depression, and 4) he just wants out of public life (Deb, 2017). Regardless of the potential velocity of theories to spread, Taberski exploitatively shares them while simultaneously championing the podcast’s great respect for Simmons’s privacy (Hess, 2017). He makes a point of saying that the reasons are theories and speculations, but does not seem concerned with any ethical implications of publicly searching for someone who is asking for privacy. Questions that have developed from this podcast include: How hard should you look from someone who says he does not want to be found? Does a public figure owe anything to the

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

8

public? And what is the line between compassionate inquiry and intrusive expose? Taberski ultimately did not discover anything new from doing this podcast. Holmes (2017) stated that the podcast concluded with its sixth episode that Simmons was safe and physically healthy and had withdrawn voluntarily from the public eye. Listeners could have learned this information if they had listened to Simmons. I learned that because there are so many new computer-mediated ways to create communications and programming online, like podcasts, who society consider the media may be changing. Individual podcast producers now have as much power as large media outlets do to transfer the salience of issues or attributes because of users’ expanded content choices and control over device exposure. Because of this, the theory of agenda setting may be shifting more control to the un-massed media.

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

9

References Andrews, T.M. (2017, March 10). L.A. police reportedly say Richard Simmons is fine: ‘If he wants to go out in public or see anybody he will do that.’ Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/03/10/l-a-policereportedly-say-richard-simmons-is-fine-if-he-wants-to-go-out-in-public-or-see-anybodyhe-will-do-that/?utm_term=.a84a3351c23d. Associated Press (2017, March 22). Where’s Richard Simmons? A podcast answers a mystery. Retrieved from http://www.stltoday.com/news/where-s-richard-simmons-a-podcastanswers-a-mystery/article_10263583-0a61-566c-b5a6-a0a4d48e3e26.html. Baran, S.J. & Davis, D.K. (2015). Mass communication theory: Foundations, ferment, and future (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. Cohen, B.C. (1963). The Press and Foreign Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Deb, S. (2017, March 12). Richard Simmons’ disappearing act inspires a hit podcast. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/12/arts/missing-richard-simmons-podcast.html? _r=0. Foley, M. (2017, February 23). The way Richard Simmons disappeared is even more disturbing than any of us realized. Retrieved from http://ijr.com/2017/02/810003-the-way-richardsimmons-disappeared-is-even-more-disturbing-than-any-of-us-realized. France, L.R. (2016, March 14). Richard Simmons speaks out on his absence. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/entertainment/richard-simmons-mystery-feat. Freeland, A. (2012). An Overview of Agenda Setting Theory in Mass Communications. University of North Texas.

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

10

Harnish, A. (2017, March 16). The genius of Richard Simmons. Retrieved from http://www.refinery29.com/2017/03/145525/richard-simmons-missing-podcastcontroversy. Hess, A. (2017, March 14). ‘Missing Richard Simmons,’ the morally suspect podcast. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/arts/missing-richard-simmons-podcast.html. Higgins, E. T. (1996). Knowledge activation: Accessibility, applicability, and salience. In E. T. Higgins & A. W. Kuglanski (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 133–168). New York: Guilford Press. Holmes, L. (2017, March 21). ‘Missing Richard Simmons’ and the nature of being known. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2017/03/21/520943717/missingrichard-simmons-and-the-nature-of-being-known. Iyengar, S., & Kinder, D. R. (2010). News that matters: Television and American opinion. University of Chicago Press. Larson, S. (2017, March 21). ‘Missing Richard Simmons’ and the queasiness of deep-dive entertainment journalism. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/culture/sarahlarson/missing-richard-simmons-and-the-queasiness-of-deep-dive-entertainmentjournalism. Lippmann, W. (1922). Public Opinion. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. Locke, C. (2017, February 23). Missing Richard Simmons is gripping, and also kind icky. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2017/02/making-richard-simmons. McCombs, M. (2005). A look at agenda-setting: Past, present and future. Journalism Studies, 6(4), 543-557.

Running head: AGENDA SETTING IN PODCAST

11

McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176-187. McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1993). The evolution of agenda‐setting research: twenty‐five years in the marketplace of ideas. Journal of Communication, 43(2), 58-67. McCombs, M., Llamas, J. P., Lopez-Escobar, E., & Rey, F. (1997). Candidate images in Spanish elections: Second-level agenda-setting effects. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 74(4), 703-717. Petit, S. (2016, November 20). Richard Simmons shares moving message on final day of classes at his iconic fitness studio. Retrieved from http://people.com/bodies/richard-simmonsheartfelt-message-facebook-slimmons-fitness-studio-closes. Storey, S. (2017, March 7). The story behind the ‘Missing Richard Simmons’ podcast. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/missing-richard-simmons-podcast-by-dantaberski_us_58bd9cc9e4b033be146713db. Skiba, D.J. (2006). The 2005 word of the year: Podcast. Nursing Education Perspective, 27(1), 54-55. Taberski, D. (Producer). (2017, March). Missing Richard Simmons [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/missing-richard-simmons/id12030...