Candidate Images in Spanish Elections: Second-Level Agenda-Setting Effects

Abstract

Traditional agenda-setting theory is about the influence of mass media on the public's focus of attention, who and what people are thinking about. The expanded theory of agenda setting tested here during the 1995 regional and municipal elections in Spain elaborates the influence of the mass media on how people think about persons and topics in the news. Combining content analysis and survey data, this study documents the influence of newspapers, TV news, and both TV and newspaper political advertising on Spanish voters' images of political candidates.

Media Legitimation Effects in the Market for Initial Public Offerings.

“…Whereas some level of legitimacy may be necessary for a firm to be considered newsworthy, media coverage further legitimates firms. The media legitimates firms by directing public attention to those it selects for coverage, thereby increasing the public's exposure to them (Kosicki, 1993;McCombs, Llamas, Lopez-Escobar, & Rey, 1997;Rogers et al, 1993). It also impacts the ways that stakeholders interpret and evaluate information about firms by framing its descriptions of them in positive and negative terms (Golan & Wanta, 2001;McCombs et al, 1997).…”

“…Mass communications research has documented the impact of the positive and negative tenor of media reports on public perceptions of political candidates (e.g., Golan & Wanta, 2001;McCombs, 1981;McCombs et al, 1997). To the degree that positive or negative media coverage represents a public evaluation, it serves as a source of "social proof" (Rao et al, 2001) that can lead to "information cascades" (Bikhchandani, Hirschleifer, & Welch, 1992) and "availability cascades" (Kuran & Sunstein, 1999).…”

“…The media legitimates firms by directing public attention to those it selects for coverage, thereby increasing the public's exposure to them (Kosicki, 1993;McCombs, Llamas, Lopez-Escobar, & Rey, 1997;Rogers et al, 1993). It also impacts the ways that stakeholders interpret and evaluate information about firms by framing its descriptions of them in positive and negative terms (Golan & Wanta, 2001;McCombs et al, 1997). We draw on social cognition research that explores how the nature of available information affects impression formation (Fiske & Taylor, 1991) and judgment (Heath & Tversky, 1991) to elaborate how media coverage affects sociocognitive processes and investor choices.…”

Do emotions fit the frame? A critical appraisal of visual framing research approaches

“…There is by now an impressive body of evidence on the theoretical and empirical level proving that affects do influence attention, memory, thinking, associations and judgments (e.g., Forgas 1999), that media frames lead to the arousal of emotions, and that affective framing effects on the audience agenda are stronger than cognitive ones under certain conditions (McCombs et al 1997). News frames are not only characterized by cognitive complexity, but also through valence and value-based judgments (Keum et al 2006;De Vreese and Boomgaarden 2003).…”

Measuring news bias: Russia’s official news agency ITAR-TASS’ coverage of the Ukraine crisis

“…Agenda-setting theory suggests that the amount of news coverage allocated to certain issues, events or actors influences their perceived importance among audiences ("what to think about") (Besova & Cooley, 2009;Hester & Gibson, 2003;McCombs, Llamas, Lopez-Escobar, & Rey, 1997;Salwen & Matera, 1992;Wanta, Golan, & Lee, 2004), but, if our primary interest is investigating the mass media's role in shaping news audiences' attitudes towards subjects ("how to think"), we must scrutinise the ways those subjects are represented in news reporting. According to the theory of second-level agenda-setting, or priming, news reporting focusing on negative or positive aspects of events, issues and actors has a significant impact on an audience's attitude toward them (Entman, 1993;Hester & Gibson, 2003;Iyengar & Simon, 1993;McCombs et al, 1997). The concept of media framing, which is defined as "selecting and highlighting some faces of events or issues, and making connections among them so as to promote a particular interpretation, evaluation and/or solution" (Entman, 2004, p. 5), also establishes a link between news reporting and people's understanding of public affairs.…”