Agenda-setting theory shows the ability of the news media to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda. Means, if news on a particular item is covered more frequently and prominently the audience will take the issue as more important. Public awareness creates Agenda-setting and concern of salient issues by the news media. There are 2 basic assumptions underlie most research on agenda-setting: 1. press and media- they do not reflect reality; they only filter and shape it; 2. media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues. Different media have different agenda-setting potential.
The first is that the media filters and shapes what we see rather than just reflecting stories to the audience. An example of this is seeing a sensational or scandalous story at the top of a broadcast as opposed to a story that happened more recently or one that affects more people, such as an approaching storm or legislative tax reform.