KILLER AND VICTIM ISSUES: ISSUE COMPETITION IN THE AGENDA-SETTING PROCESS OF GERMAN TELEVISION

The capacity of the mass media to cover issues as well as thecapacity of recipients to be concerned about issues is limited.The coverage on and the concern about new issues will consequentlyremove old issues from the agenda of both the mass media andthe general public. The present study investigates two modelsof this process of issue competition. The equal-displacementmodel assumes that a rise of one issue in the media by a givennumber of stories is matched by an equal fall in all other issuessumming up to a similar number of issues. The restructuringmodel assumes that unexpected, surprising or otherwise newsworthyevents create killer issues that move several other issues completelyoff the agenda and leave others untouched. A content analysisof all news shows of the two major TV stations in Germany and53 weekly surveys regarding 16 different issues covering thewhole year 1986 shows that—within the media agenda—therewere no killer issues affecting the coverage of the TV stations.In the public agenda, however, some killer issues could be identified.Coverage of these issues increased public concern about themand decreased concerns about other issues. Consequences of theseresults for agenda-setting theory and for politics are discussed.     

Intermedia Agenda Setting in Television,Advertising, and Blogs During the 2004 Election

This study examined whether the candidate-controlled public relations tools of political ads and candidate blogs were successful in influencing the issue and news agenda of the major television news networks during the 2004 presidential election. Data showed strong correlations between blogs and the media agenda. Advertisements did not correlate with the media agenda. Cross-lag analyses showed that the media set the candidates' agenda. The authors suggest intermedia agenda setting occurred as the media transferred their agenda to campaign blogs.     

Comparing Disaster News on Twitter and Television: an Intermedia Agenda Setting Perspective

Intermedia agenda setting predicts a high degree of convergence between news media agendas. However, the rise of social media forces a re-examination of this expectation. Using the 8.8-earthquake of February 27, 2010 in Chile as a case study, this article compares which topics were covered by professional journalists on broadcast news and Twitter, analyzing both cross-sectional and longitudinal trends. A positive, reinforcing influence was found among the journalistic agendas of TV and Twitter. However, counter to the idea that social media are echo chambers of traditional media, it was found that Twitter influences TV news more so than the other way around. Thus, the study provides an early lens into the agenda setting function of social media among television news professionals, and its findings are consistent with Twitter succeeding among journalists due to its provision of valuable information.     

THE AGENDA-SETTING EFFECTS OF INTERNATIONAL NEWS COVERAGE: AN EXAMINATION OF DIFFERING NEWS FRAMES

The agenda-setting impact of international news was examinedby comparing the coverage of 15 categories of internationalnews in four news media (the New York Times, ABC, CBS, and NBC)with the level of public concern with international problemsas recorded by all 41 Gallup organization's most important problempolls conducted from 1975 to 1990. The findings suggest thatthe way in which international news is framed in news reportsmay determine the magnitude of salience cues. Four categoriesof news coverage demonstrated the strongest agenda-setting influence:international conflicts involving the United States; terrorisminvolving the U.S.; crime/drugs; and military/nuclear arms.Generally, the results support previous findings which concludedthat stories with high degrees of conflict and stories withconcrete presentations (by including Americans in the stories)have the strongest agenda-setting impact. In addition, two newscategories—international trade not involving the UnitedStates, and politics not involving the United States—correlatednegatively with public concern for two of the news media. Thisresult suggests that press coverage, besides increasing publicconcern with certain issues, can also decrease concern. Certaincategories of news, such as stories dealing with internationalpolitics and trade, can give individuals cues that the internationalarena is functioning quite smoothly. These types of internationalnews stories show individuals that international problems arenot really serious problems at all.     

群体规模对属性议程设置的影响——基于议程融合假设的实验研究

本研究基于议程融合的假设,通过实验的方法对受众在不同媒介信息获取渠道中产生的属性议程设置进行探讨,验证了不同大小的群体规模对属性议程设置效果的不同影响,以及在议程融合过程中群体规模对受众的不同信息依赖程度的倾向的影响。该实验研究对议程融合假设做出了一定的修正并提出了一些值得进一步研究的问题。     

Another Look at What Moves Public Opinion: Media Agenda Setting and Polls in the 2000 U.S. Election

This study examined two levels of media agenda effects on aggregatepublic opinion from different news sources. The effects wereinvestigated immediately and cumulatively. Content analysisdata from the 2000 U.S. presidential election coverage by fournational news organizations were related to the Gallup pre-electionpoll standings of each candidate. Regression analyses foundthat both the salience of a candidate and the salience of theattributes of a candidate cumulatively, but not immediately,influenced his standing in the polls. An analysis of news sourcessupported the finding that the two levels of agenda-settingeffects seemed mostly cumulative rather than immediate. Newsfrom different sources, however, tended to have effects of differentdegrees and sometimes different directions on candidate pollstandings. Cumulative effects of candidate salience on aggregateopinion change were found for non-partisan and neutral newssources—reporters, poll reporting and public documents—whereasthe effects of candidate attribute salience mostly came frompartisan sources—the candidate himself and members ofthe competing political party. Possible political implicationsof these findings are discussed.     

Setting the agenda for environmental news: The effects of media and public characteristics

This study examined the relationship between different media agendas and public agendas in the agenda‐setting process. The local and regional media agendas for environmental news in the Lansing, Michigan, area were exactly the same. It was also found that respondents could accurately assess media issue emphasis when they were asked to do so.     

The Application of Social Network Analysis in Agenda Setting Research: A Methodological Exploration

This article presents the innovative application of social network analysis to agenda setting research. It suggests that the approach of network analysis enables researchers to map out the interrelationships among objects and attributes both in the media agenda and the public agenda. Further, by conducting statistical analysis, researchers are able to compare the media agenda networks and public agenda networks in order to explore a third level of agenda setting effects. Concrete procedures for applying network analysis in agenda setting research are presented, and a set of hypotheses are suggested in this article.     

Shaping the Agenda of Local Daily Newspapers: A Methodology Merging the Agenda Setting and Community Structure Perspectives

Community structure research investigates the influence of the local community and specific demographic groups in the community on the degree of emphasis that particular public issues receive in a local newspaper. In contrast to this internal source of influence, intermedia agenda setting emphasizes the external influence of other news media and the national journalistic culture on the news decisions of local daily newspapers. To invoke a cliché, the agenda-setting and community structure perspectives are opposite sides of the same coin and should be considered in tandem. The research design and procedure for statistical analysis presented here, which involves the simultaneous investigation of the influence resulting from community structure and intermedia agenda setting, is a path for new research that can present a detailed explication of the balance between local and national influence on the issue agenda of local daily newspapers.     

IMPACT OF QUESTION ORDER ON THE THIRD-PERSON EFFECT

A nationwide telephone survey in the United States was conductedto investigate the impact of question order on the perceptualand behavioral hypotheses of the third-person effect. The perceptualhypothesis posits that individuals perceive other people tobe more vulnerable than themselves to persuasive media messages,whereas the behavioral hypothesis predicts that perceiving othersas more vulnerable increases support for message restrictions.Key questions included estimated effects of media issues onself, perceived effects on others, and support for restrictionson media content. Four question-order condition (restrictions—others-self,restrictions-self-others, others-self-restrictions, and self—others—restrictions)were tested with three media issues (television violence, televisedtrials, and negative political advertising). In line with pastresearch, the order of the self, others, and restrictions questionsdid not affect the perceptual hypothesis. However, the sequencingof the self, others, and restrictions questions affected supportfor the behavioral hypothesis in some conditions. The resultssuggest that, consistent with a saliency effect, placement ofself and others questions prior to the restrictions questionmight heighten respondents' willingness to endorse restrictionson the media and increase support for the behavioral hypothesis.     

Terrorism and Africa: A Study of Agenda Building in the United States

An agenda-building model was examined for the question of Africaand terrorism. A path analysis compared real-world events (deathsand attacks attributed to terrorism), presidential emphasis,media coverage, and foreign aid for 20 African nations. Resultsshow a clear agenda-building trend—when nations were emphasizedwith a terrorism frame. Presidential emphasis of nations’involvement in terrorism influenced media coverage and the policyagenda. The findings also suggest that deaths attributed toterrorism influenced the news and policy agendas. Media coverageof nations with a terrorism frame influenced the policy agenda.Only one significant path coefficient was found in the analysisof agenda setting without terrorism framing: The more PresidentBush mentioned a nation in his public statements, the more TheNew York Times covered the country. Received for publication September 29, 2006. Accepted for publication March 27, 2007.     

Leveraging social media to achieve a community policing agenda

This research investigates the communication behavior and engagement strategies in the bilateral use of social media between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. It advances existing work by studying municipal level government actors in a new communications environment where social media now play an important part. Grounded in agenda setting theory, our analysis identifies police departments' social media issue priorities, analyzes the responses of their audiences to those communications, and directly compares followers' own conversation priorities with the police agenda. Our data set includes all the content from the Facebook and Twitter accounts of five similarly sized and demographically situated police departments in the U.S., plus all the tweets and posts from the followers or friends responding to those accounts over a 90-day period. We performed both manual coding and machine cluster analysis to elicit major threads of conversation. In addition to the data analytics, we conducted interviews with the five police departments to understand the similarities and differences in agenda priorities resulting from their social media goals and use.The study shows the priorities that comprise the police agenda, identifies both similarities and differences in what their audiences communicate among themselves about most frequently in the public safety domain relative to the police agenda, and finds evidence of positive response from the public to some of the agenda priorities communicated by the police. Our data also reveal that police are using social media interactively, which could, over time, advance community policing goals. The paper concludes by considering the implications of these findings for law enforcement and community policing and suggests directions for future research on agenda setting in this new media environment.     

媒体信任危机的历史与辨证思考

从媒体诞生那天起 ,虚假新闻就是引起媒体信任危机的罪魁祸首。今年发生在美国和英国权威媒体《纽约时报》和英国广播公司身上的事件使人们对媒体信任危机有了更多的思考。当媒体的职业准则与社会责任、法律规定与公众利益、报道立场与媒体市场遭遇矛盾的时候 ,媒体该如何处理 ?这里笔者带给大家一些辨证的思考。     

MEASURING THE THIRD-PERSON EFFECT OF NEWS: THE IMPACT OF QUESTION ORDER, CONTRAST AND KNOWLEDGE

This study investigated the extent to which the third-personeffect—the tendency of people to estimate greater impactof media messages on ‘other people’ than on themselves—mightdepend upon question-contrast effects (i.e. self-serving comparisonstriggered by back-to-back questions dealing with effect on othersand oneself), the order of questions, and respondents' levelsof background political knowledge. Two hundred and eighty-sevensubjects participated in two experimental studies involvingquestions about media coverage of President Clinton's possiblerole in the ‘Whitewater Affair’, his alleged frequentpolicy reversals, the O. J. Simpson murder trial, and childmolestation charges against Michael Jackson. Both experimentsresulted in significant third-person effects that did not dependupon having the same respondents answer both questions; meansfor single-question (no contrast) conditions did not differsignificantly from comparable means in two-question (contrast)conditions. No significant main effects of question order wereobserved. In Experiment 1 a significant interaction betweenpolitical knowledge and question order was found, such thata negative relationship between knowledge and perceived impacton oneself emerged when the ‘self’ question followeda question about perceived effects on others. Experiment 2 replicatedthe interaction for two of three news stimuli, and indicatedthat it was not a product of differences in the personal importanceof issues. Implications of these results for understanding thethird-person effect are discussed.     

Red Media,Blue Media,and Purple Media: News Repertoires in the Colorful Media Landscape

This study extends past research on news repertoires by examining how individuals combine news exposure across an array of media platforms and content. Results from a national survey reveal 6 distinct news repertoires. While some respondents have clear ideologically driven repertoires, others have repertoires that are best described as medium-centric. A closer look at socio-demographic factors and participation levels among the 6 news repertoires are also explored. Results shed light on the democratic implications of the high-choice media landscape and research on news exposure and effects.     

Solutions Journalism

The media contribute to compassion fatigue—or public apathy toward human tragedy—in part by failing to present solutions to the social problems ubiquitous in today’s conflict-based news coverage. Some journalists have attempted to address this issue through a style of news labeled solutions journalism. This experiment tests the effects of this increasingly popular approach. Results revealed that discussing an effective solution to a social problem in a news story caused readers to feel less negative and to report more favorable attitudes toward the news article and toward solutions to the problem than when no solution or an ineffective solution was mentioned. Reading about an effective solution did not, however, impact on readers’ behavioral intentions or actual behaviors. This suggests that solution-based journalism might mitigate some harmful effects of negative, conflict-based news, but might not inspire action.     

Global Mistrust in News: The Impact of Social Media on Trust

ABSTRACT

Digital platforms such as search engines and social media have become major gateways to news. Algorithms are used to deliver news that is consistent with consumers’ preferences and individuals share news through their online social networks. This networked environment has resulted in growing uncertainty about online information which has had an impact on news industries globally. While it is well established that perceptions of trust in news found on social media or via search engines are lower than traditional news media, there has been less discussion about the impact of social media use on perceptions of trust in the news media more broadly. This study fills that gap by examining the influence of social media as news sources and pathways to news on perceptions of the level of news trust at a country level. A secondary data analysis of a 26-country survey in 2016 and 2019 was conducted. The analysis revealed an increase in social media use for accessing news resulted in a decline in trust in news media generally across the globe. Higher levels of general mistrust in news were related to an increased use of sharing of news. This paper argues the use of social media for news is closely linked to the increase in news mistrust, which is likely to continue to rise as the number of people using social media to access news continues to grow.     

What I am Versus What I do

As digital technologies have practically annihilated entry barriers in the field of journalism, the industry has seen the rise of many digitally native news media startups. Many of these startups are hyperlocal media, usually started by former journalists or concerned residents to provide news to their neighborhoods. Little research exists on entrepreneurship and news media and even less research exists on how these former journalists and/or concerned residents step into these new work roles and make sense of their new responsibilities. This paper explores these individuals’ work-role transition and professional identity negotiation. Analyses of in-depth interviews revealed the respondents tried to make sense of their work in relation to their professional identity by melding their responsibilities with their image of who they are. Thus, they create holistic, positive, professional identities that are more reflective of their new work and roles yet not too different from their idea of who they are as professionals.     

Selective exposure and agenda setting: exploring the impact of partisan media exposure on agenda diversity and political participation

A deliberative democracy calls for citizens who are well informed about a diverse range of public issues and a media system that shapes the public agenda for deliberation and consensus building. However, with the current proliferation of a high-choice media environment, citizens can engage in partisan selective exposure by only consuming news that matches their own political attitudes and dispositions. This study examines two under-researched effects of partisan selective exposure: (1) the reduction in the number of societal issues that individuals consider important (i.e., nominal agenda diversity) and (2) the reduction in the variety of issues (i.e., thematic agenda diversity). A national survey was conducted in Hong Kong, a transitional democracy with a highly partisan media environment. The results showed that although reading more newspapers is positively related to nominal agenda diversity and thematic agenda diversity, citizens who receive their news only from partisan newspapers are less likely to be interested in a range of public issues and are less able to name pressing societal issues. Moreover, both nominal and thematic diversities predicted political participation, though not political discussion. The findings provide supporting evidence that partisan selective exposure can lead to a fragmented public agenda.     

How Age Affects Journalists’ Adoption of Social Media as an Innovation

American newsrooms are adopting social media as an innovation for greater engagement. However, several organizational and individual factors may affect the extent to which news outlets adopt social media innovations. In particular, there is assumed to be a divide among different age groups of journalists in embracing social media. Utilizing a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, the study seeks to understand how social media culture in newsrooms affects journalists’ strategies of taking social media as an innovation, and how journalists of different age groups differ in the SEM model fit. The analyses indicated Twitter engagement mediates social media culture and journalists’ attitude toward social media. However, that was not the case with Facebook. Additionally, while younger journalists favored Twitter, older journalists embraced Facebook and middle-aged journalists adopted both Facebook and Twitter. The analyses showed the more that middle-aged journalists interacted on Twitter, the more they tended to have a positive attitude toward social media. However, the more that younger and older journalists engaged on Twitter, the more they tended to have a negative attitude toward social media. Journalists from all three age groups tended to hold a negative attitude toward social media if they engaged more on Facebook.