A Longitudinal Analysis of Local Non-Political Agenda-Setting Effects

Abstract

Study in small city with only one newspaper finds little evidence of agenda-setting by newspaper, but finds that people read about what they talk about. P Mass communications theorists have been struggling for quite some time to define and specify if and how the media affect our social world. While this study doesnot presume to answer all the questions, it does examine in depth one medium's effect on a panel of respondents who live in a small rural community served by one daily newspaper. The study is directed a t testing the general hypothesis that the local daily newspaper is effective in causing topics emphasized in the newspaper to be emphasized in the community discussion arena over time.The focus of this study is agenda-setling. The earliest explicit reference to agenda-setting was made by Cohen. The following quotation is frequently used to explain agenda-setting:I h e press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about.'The agenda-setting assertion is that the media suggest the topics about which the I Bcrnard C . Cohen. 7hr P r m ond Foreign POL< (Princeton Princclon University Press. 1967) ! Maxwcll McCombs and David Wcavcr. -Voters' Vccd lor Oricntation and I;sc of Mass Communications " Papcr prcscntcd a1 the lnlcrnational Communication Awriation Convcntion. 1973. 'William McGuirc. "Psychological Morivcr and Communication Grarification." in Jay Rlumler and Flihu Karl. cds .7he

International Agenda-Building and Agenda-Setting

“…Wanta and Roy, 1995;Zucker, 1978) up to several months (e.g. Sohn, 1978;Stone and McCombs, 1981). To capture a broad range of content, news coverage was gathered for the three months preceding public opinion polls to establish time-order.…”

Compelling Arguments and Attitude Strength

“…Whenever scrutinizing media and public opinion trends, pinpointing the proper time span from which to locate relationships is paramount (Chaffee 1972). The time lags employed in agenda-setting research have varied widely, ranging from a few days and weeks (e.g., Wanta and Roy 1995;Zucker 1978) up to several months (e.g., Sohn 1978;Stone and McCombs 1981). To capture a broad range of content, news articles were tracked from January through October of every year analyzed (the months prior to elections).…”

Agenda-Setting Effects and Attitude Strength

“…Agenda-setting work has produced mixed results with regard to the optimum time lag. For example, scholars have found effects from a few days (e.g., Wanta & Roy, 1995;Zucker, 1978) up to several months prior to public opinion surveys (e.g., Sohn, 1978;Stone & McCombs, 1981). Due to the minimal consensus concerning the time-lag question, we decided to take a conservative approach that encompassed a broad time frame.…”