Information Subsidies and the Influence of Military Public Affairs on the Local Newspaper.

摘要

Agenda setting theory suggests that the media sets the public agenda. Research has indicated that the media appears to have the ability to focus society's attention on particular issues. But, what or who sets the media agenda. This is a question that the concept of information subsidies addresses. Information has a value placed on it by the users and providers of information. This value is determined by the perceived utility of the information. The information source controls the information and determines when and where to release it. The journalist accepts the information subsidy from the information source when that source is determined to be credible and reliable and the information cannot be acquired by an easier, more economical method. So, in providing an information subsidy, the cost of gathering and interpreting the information is born by the source, therefore reducing the cost of the information to the mass media and the end users of the information.