The Agenda-Setting Function of Television News

Abstract

The present study investigates static and dynamic approaches to agendasetting research by means of cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The data bases used are weekly surveys on problem awareness of the public regarding 16 issues and a content analysis of the main German television news shows in 1986. Although static analysis of the data reveals nearly no relationship between media coverage and problem awareness, dynamic analysis demonstrates that media coverage caused problem awareness of four prominent issues in 1986 (energy supply, defense, environmental protection, and European politics). Problem awareness, on the other hand, caused media coverage on three issues (pensions, public debt, and public security). Time lags ranked between 1 and 3 weeks. The direction of influence seems to be dependent on the kind of issue and the investigated time interval. In addition, there are significant differences in the type of effects. Although the public generally reacted to media coverage with corresponding increases and declines of problem awareness, the media sometimes reacted to problem awareness by counterbalancing the trend of public opinion.

Agenda Setting Theory and International News: A Comparative Analysis of News Articles Coverage on Iraq War in Malaysian English Newspapers

“…Agenda-setting theory entails the link between the mass media's emphasis on a particular topic and the corresponding salience of that topic on the public agenda [11]. A more recent definition by Brosius and Kepplinger [12] defines agenda setting as a dynamic process 'in which changes in media coverage lead to or cause subsequent changes in problem awareness of issues'. In other words, when mass media prioritise and frequently cover a topic, the public tends to consider this topic more important.…”

La influencia de los partidos políticos españoles en las agendas de medios y blogs durante la campaña electoral de 2011

“…Los medios de comunicación poseen una enorme capacidad para establecer los temas del debate público, tal como ha acreditado el modelo de investigación de la agenda setting, que ha arrojado sobrada evidencia empírica sobre su habilidad para transferir relevancia temática al público en torno a un conjunto de asuntos en una multiplicidad de contextos sociopolíticos (McCombs y Shaw, 1972;Winter & Eyal, 1981;Brosius & Kepplinger, 1990;Canel et al, 1996). La importancia de la investigación desarrollada por la agenda setting se deriva de su estatus de teoría de rango medio (Merton, 1957) saber: de su capacidad para formular hipótesis empíricamente contrastables y comprobarlas a través de procedimientos metodológicos sistemáticos que limitan los sesgos subjetivistas en la interpretación de los textos (Takeshita, 1997).…”

Striking a Balance between Science and Arts: Mass Media Dilemma in Reporting Health and Environmental Issues

“…Based on their research, they suggest that journalists should view environmental change as a development issue and adopt the global perspective prevalent in environmental ethics as a way to improve environmental issues such as waste disposal planning. Brosius and Kepplinger (1990) studied the static and dynamic approaches to agenda setting by looking at cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. They used databases derived from weekly surveys on problem awareness of the public regarding 16 issues and a content analysis of the main German television news shown in 1986.…”