Reporting on the State Legislature: A Case Study of Inter-Media Agenda-Setting

Atwater, Tony; Fico, Frederick; Pizante, Gary

doi:10.1177/073953298700800206

Cited by 38 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…He called for more research on gubernatorial campaigns for several reasons: the increased responsibilities placed on state governments since the 1980s, the need for a larger sample of campaigns in which to test theories, and the unique characteristics of various gubernatorial campaigns that allow researchers to study a wide range of theories. A few studies have used state government contexts to study media agenda setting (Atwater, Fico, & Pizante, 1987; Roberts & McCombs, 1994; Tipton, Haney, & Baseheart, 1975). This study furthers this research program by systematically studying agenda setting at both the media and the candidate levels.…”

Section: Election Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Candidate and Media Agenda Setting in the 2005 Virginia Gubernatorial Election

Dunn

2009

Journal of Communication

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This study content analyzed candidate press releases and newspaper articles from the 2005 Virginia gubernatorial election in order to determine which issues, strategies, and audiences were most salient on candidate and media agendas during the campaign. Monthly cross-lagged correlations were used to measure agenda setting effects between the two major party candidates, among the four newspapers, and between candidates and newspapers. These correlations showed that the candidates maintained consistent issue agendas throughout the campaign but shifted their strategy and audience agendas frequently, while the newspapers generally maintained consistency for all three types of agenda. Many of the cross-lagged correlations indicated that the candidates shared reciprocal influence with the newspapers, but in some cases the candidates set the newspapers' issue agendas, while the newspapers set the candidates' audience agendas. The two candidates showed reciprocal influence between their agendas throughout much of the campaign, but Republican Jerry Kilgore set Democrat Tim Kaine's agenda during some months early in the campaign. The four newspapers studied showed a clear path of influence on issue agendas, with the Richmond Times-Dispatch influencing The Washington Post, which in turn influenced The Roanoke Times, followed by The Virginian-Pilot. Influence between the newspapers' audience and strategy agendas was mostly reciprocal.

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Section: Election Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Candidate and Media Agenda Setting in the 2005 Virginia Gubernatorial Election

Dunn

2009

Journal of Communication

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“…The two-step flow hypothesis (see Robinson, 1976, for a review) suggests that the media may influence opinion leaders who in turn repeat what they see in the newspaper to nonreaders; Duke (2007) documents local opinion leaders' dismay at the Post's closing. Alternatively, perhaps stories in the Post influenced coverage by other media, a phenomenon previously documented in studies of a variety of newspapers (e.g., Atwater, Fico, and Pizante, 1987;Massing, 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Do Newspapers Matter? Short-Run and Long-Run Evidence from the Closure of The Cincinnati Post

Schulhofer‐Wohl¹,

Garrido

2012

Preprint

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The Cincinnati Post published its last edition on New Year's Eve 2007, leaving the Cincinnati Enquirer as the only daily newspaper in the market. The next year, fewer candidates ran for municipal office in the Kentucky suburbs most reliant on the Post, incumbents became more likely to win reelection, and voter turnout and campaign spending fell. These changes happened even though the Enquirer at least temporarily increased its coverage of the Post's former strongholds. Voter turnout remained depressed through 2010, nearly three years after the Post closed, but the other effects diminished with time. We exploit a difference-indifferences strategy and the fact that the Post's closing date was fixed 30 years in advance to rule out some noncausal explanations for our results. Although our findings are statistically imprecise, they suggest that newspapers-even underdogs such as the Post, which had a circulation of just 27,000 when it closed-can have a substantial and measurable impact on public life.

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“…Three major US newspapers -the New York Times, the Washington Post and USA Today 8 -were chosen as the primary sources due to their circulation and influence in American society, as well as their devotion to international news coverage. Studies on intermedia agenda setting indicate that newspapers, especially elite ones like the New York Times and the Washington Post, set the agenda in general for electronic and other forms of print media (Atwater, Fico & Pizante, 1987;Benton & Frazier, 1976;Danielian & Reese, 1989). In addition, a recent study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that the vast majority of actual reporting still comes from newspapers, and that "most of what digital news outlets offer is repetition and commentary, not new information" (Perez-Pena, 2010, p. 89).…”

Section: Mediating Variablesmentioning

confidence: 98%