The path to war: Exploring a second-level agenda-building analysis examining the relationship among the media, the public and the president

Abstract

This study combines both the agenda-building and the second-level agenda approaches. It proposes an expansion of agenda-building research by examining the interaction among the president, the media and the public for an event that was not considered an existing 'real-world' condition. Specifically, this study uses former President Bush's five most prominent rationales for invading Iraq to explore the three-way reciprocal relationship among the media, the public and the president on attributes related to the pre-emptive strike on Iraq. The study found evidence of the information subsidies approach as Bush influenced media coverage of the Iraq War. The research also found more evidence of a linear model of agenda-building. The media and presidential agenda had only a limited influence on public concern about the war. Public concern influenced how much space the president devoted to the five issues on his Iraq War agenda and the press also had some limited influence on the issues stressed by the former president.

Journalists’ Use of Political Tweets

“…Related to the agenda-building approach is the concept of information subsidies (Gandy 1982): "An information subsidy is an attempt to produce influence over the actions of others by controlling their access to and use of information relevant to those actions" (Gandy 1982, 61). Thus, scholars argue that if messages provided by information sources are included in the media coverage, instead of journalists gathering information on political issues themselves and critically assessing them, this can be described as information subsidies (Fahmy et al 2011;Gandy 1982). Information subsidies can be of concern because information disseminated by politicians get attention in the media without an assessment by journalists who may have added other information on a political issue if they had done proper journalistic research and not only relied on information subsidies.…”

“…Agenda-building in a broader sense means to consider potential reciprocal processes among the public, the media, and political actors (Cobb and Elder 1983;Kingdon 1995;Kiousis et al 2013, 653). Studies following the broader approach showed that agendabuilding not only implies influences from the political system on the media but also influences from the media on the political system, for example, the president (Fahmy et al 2011). The media can also influence the political agenda (Walgrave and van Aelst 2006), not only through the media coverage but also through politicians being contacted directly by journalists (Kingdon 1995;Kovic 2015: 124-125).…”

“…Since Twitter is an interactive medium, reciprocal processes between journalists and politicians are also possible. As reciprocal influences are part of the agendabuilding concept (Cobb and Elder 1983;Kingdon 1995;Fahmy et al 2011) we also take potential influences from journalists on politicians through Twitter into account.…”

Exploring New Frontiers of Agenda Building During the 2012 US Presidential Election Pre-Convention Period

“…These inquiries demonstrate that news media (or public relations efforts) highlight certain aspects of objects while simultaneously ignoring others to help stakeholders develop an understanding about objects (e.g., Fahmy et al 2011;Schultz et al 2012;Wanta, Golan, and Lee 2004). Linked to framing research, the second-level agenda-setting (and agenda-building) literature suggests that media (and public relations activities) play a role in shifting public opinion by telling stakeholders "how to think about" objects (e.g., Carroll and McCombs 2003;Kiousis et al 2006;McCombs and Reynolds 2009;Wang and Shoemaker 2011;Wanta, Golan, and Lee 2004).…”

On the coverage of science in the media: A big data study on the impact of the Fukushima disaster

“…There is a wide scientific literature on this topic that combines communication theories and studies of mass media influences (e.g. agenda setting theory [3]; second level agenda setting [4]; cultivation theory [5]; agenda building [6]; second level agenda building [7]) with public understanding of science research. In particular, studying how mass media frame an emerging technology is important for observing definitions and associated meanings that are legitimized or stigmatized.…”