Maxwell E. McCombs (born December 3, 1938) is an American

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

scholar known for his work on political communication. He is the Jesse H. Jones Centennial Chair in Communication Emeritus at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

. He is particularly known for developing the agenda setting theory of

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit informati ...

with

Donald Lewis Shaw Donald Lewis Shaw (October 27, 1936 – October 19, 2021), one of the two founding fathers of empirical research on the agenda-setting function of the press, was a social scientist and a Kenan professor emeritus at the University of North Carolin ...

. In a 1972 paper, McCombs and Shaw described the results of a study they conducted testing the hypothesis that the news media have a large influence on the issues that the American public considers important. They conducted the study while they were both working at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. The resulting paper, "The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media", has since been described as "a classic and perhaps the most cited article in the field of mass communication research in the past 35 years." McCombs has been described as, along with Shaw, "one of the two founding fathers of empirical research on the agenda-setting function of the press."

Honors and awards

McCombs and Shaw were jointly awarded the 2011

Helen Dinerman Helen Schneider Dinerman (December 25, 1920 – August 14, 1974) was an American sociologist and public opinion researcher. Biography Born in New York City in 1920, Dinerman received her education at Hunter College and Columbia University. ...

Award of the

World Association for Public Opinion Research The World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) is an international professional association of researchers in the field of survey research. It is a member organization of the International Science Council. History Established in 194 ...

. In 2014, McCombs received the Silver Medal from the

University of Navarra , image = UNAV.svg , latin_name = Universitas Studiorum Navarrensis , established = 17 October 1952 , type = Private, Roman Catholic , chancellor = Fernando Ocáriz Braña , president = María Iraburu Eliz ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, where he has been a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

since 1994. With Shaw, he has also received the

Murray Edelman Murray Jacob Edelman (1919 – January 26, 2001) was an American political scientist known for his research on symbolic politics and political psychology. Career Edelman received a bachelor's degree in social sciences from Bucknell University in ...

Award from the American Political Science Association.

Honors and awards

References

Further reading