Media outlets have agenda-setting power. Through mass media, outlets can impose on the audience what to think about. This agenda-setting power of the media was mentioned for the first time in Maxwell McCombs’ and Donald Shaw’s article “The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media”. This concept is frequently mentioned in media studies. According to Nye, this agenda-setting power aims to attract the targeted audience. This attraction is related to how developments are framed in the media. Pan and Kosicki emphasise that how audiences perceive news can be changed through framing, and therefore framing is important in the news narrative. In authoritarian countries, the power to set the agenda becomes much more important because these countries try to control the media tools, which leads to a monophonic media environment. In cases such as war, especially when nationalist sentiments are brought to the forefront, this monophonic environment prepares the climate for managing public opinion.
This discussion paper will examine the rise of pro-war blogging, its role in shaping public opinion, and its alleged links to prominent political players. The paper will also explore the popularity of these blogs, their critical representation of the war, and possible reasons for their continued and relatively unchallenged presence.
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