Communication presents the Summer Doctoral Seminar's annual public lecture

Tuesday, June 14, 5:00 p.m., Armenian Room, Manoogian Hall 226

Modern media audiences are very active in the way they mix agendas from traditional and social media. In fact, audiences meld the agendas from these two types of media, along with their personal experiences, to find rewarding agenda communities. So, there is a potential loss in vertical power of traditional media and a gain in power of social media. The result is, we argue, a decline in the power and prestige of traditional institutions, including the traditional press, and a gain in connectivity of newly-empowered interest groups, including online communities. Ready for a flatter society? This is just a start.

Dr. Donald Shaw, a writer and communication scholar, is one of the founding fathers of agenda-setting theory. With Maxwell McCombs of University of Texas at Austin and David Weaver of Indiana University, Dr. Shaw is attempting to expand agenda-setting research into a comprehensive behavioral theory connecting media and society. Shaw is Kenan professor emeritus at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's School of Media and Communication.

Learn more about the Dept. of Communication's annual Summer Doctoral Seminar.