Agenda-setting effect of the media in Bangladesh

The agenda-setting effect of the media is one of the most established and widely studied theories of mass communication. Since first outlined in 1972, the theory has been the topic of numerous studies and articles. Mostly the theory has been tested in developed countries. Scholars had previously urged for testing of mass communication theories in developing countries for more universal understanding of the mass media. This thesis studied the agenda-setting theory in Bangladesh as an effort of studying media effects in developing countries. The thesis applied survey and content analysis to collect data. The survey was done in Bangladesh and data was gathered from 418 respondents, while the content analysis gathered data from a sample of the country’s newspapers. In analyzing the results, this study determined the Spearman Rho correlation coefficient and found no evidence of the basic agenda-setting effect of the media. There was no evidence of the agenda-setting effect on audience groups based on different demographics and levels of media usage, interpersonal communication and media credibility either. The thesis concluded that scholars need to study the theory more in developing countries using a variety of research methods and exploring different kinds of conceptual definitions. Theorists also need to take complex social and political scenario of the developing countries needs to into account.