t lead to the current issue of whether asylum will be granted to Elian. However, the element of a divided public merits its own value in informing the audience. This is an element that the reporter can use to sway the undecided ones since the majority often sways people. The use of polls and figures are effective in providing information on which an undecided reader can make a decision. In the Plain Dealer Story, this was an element that was missing that could have been effective in swaying the reader to make a decision. Though the object is to present “objective” information it is still the goal of media to agenda set and exert their influence on the lives of the public. The Plain Dealer article failed to do this by not providing more information in which the public could use to make a decision. The element of public opinion should have been included along with some statistical figures to solidify the article. The Weekly Standard relied too much on the divided opinions of the public and did not fully answer the reader’s questions as to what were the circumstances leading to the actions that Reno took. The article also failed to mention the action of the court in Atlanta to grant Elian more time to stay in Miami. It was described as Reno “calling it off” instead of a court order. This gave the reader a false sense that the stay was granted because of the protesters. The court’s decision in the matter should have been added to the article. The effectiveness of the information was compromised in both of these articles because there was not a melding of the elements that would be important to readers. This melding should have included all of the elements of circumstance and statistical evidence of opinion. The inclusion of these missing elements in both articles would leave fewer questions in the mind of the readers. More information leads to fewer questions. Completeness helps to satisfy the ...
