Mass Communication and Social Agenda-Setting

What transforms a disagreeable but widely accepted condition into an intolerable problem against which a society marshals its resources? How can social scientists and policymakers help bring about such a transformation for the issue of gun violence? These questions were the focus of the conference "Mass Communication and Social Agenda-Setting," sponsored by The Annenberg Washinton Program and the Center for Health Communication of the Harvard School of Public Health. Speakers included public opinion analyst Daniel …

…Mark L. Rosenberg, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, outlined a public health approach that would seek to shift the focus toward primary prevention. Winsten announced that a new Harvard project would lobby TV writers to portray guns adversely, especially loaded handguns in people's homes. The Annenberg Washington Program has published a report on the conference, Violence, Public Health, and the Media, by Margaret Gerteis, formerly of the Harvard Center for Health Communication.