Setting the Agenda

News media strongly influence how we picture public affairs across the world, playing a significant and sometimes controversial role in determining which topics are at the centre of public attention and action. Setting the Agenda, first published in 2004, has become the go-to textbook on this crucial topic. In this timely third edition, Maxwell McCombs – a pioneer of agenda-setting research – and Sebastián Valenzuela – a senior scholar of agenda setting in Latin America – have expanded and updated the book for a new generation of students. In describing the media's influence on what we think about and how we think about it, Setting the Agenda also examines the sources of media agendas, the psychological explanation for their impact on the public agenda, and their consequences for attitudes, opinions and behaviours. New to this edition is a discussion of agenda setting in the widened media landscape, including a full chapter on network agenda setting and a lengthened presentation on agenda melding. The book also contains expanded material on social media and the role of agenda setting beyond the realm of public affairs, as well as a foreword from Donald L. Shaw and David H. Weaver, the co-founders of agenda-setting theory. This exciting new edition is an invaluable source for students of media, communications and politics, as well as those interested in the role of news in shaping and directing public opinion.

Foreword: ‘Messages and Residues’ Donald L. Shaw and David H. Weaver Preface Notes 1 Influencing Public Opinion Our pictures of the world Contemporary empirical evidence The accumulated evidence The 1972 US presidential election in Charlotte The 1976 US presidential election in three communities National concern about civil rights British and American concern about foreign affairs Public opinion in Germany Agenda setting in a Swedish election Public opinion in Louisville Local public opinion in Spain, Japan, and Argentina Replication with other issues Cause and effect A new communication landscape 1. Do online media have agenda-setting effects among the public? 2. Has the proliferation of online media diminished the agenda-setting impact of the traditional media? 3. To what extent are there specific channel effects vs. the collective impact of a communication gestalt? Summing up Notes 2 Reality and the News Idiosyncratic pictures A decade of American public opinion Creating a crisis National concern about drugs Fear of crime Discovering the environment Alarmed discovery Perspectives on agenda-setting effects Content versus exposure Agenda setting in past centuries Summing up Notes 3 The Pictures in our Heads Pictures of political candidates Candidate images in national elections Candidate images in local elections Visual images and attributes Attributes of issues Compelling arguments Agenda setting and other communication theories Attribute agenda setting and framing Summing up Notes 4 Networks of Issues and Attributes Associative memory Networks of candidates and attributes Accumulated evidence on network agenda setting A new gestalt perspective Summing Up Notes 5 Why Agenda Setting Occurs Relevance and uncertainty Occurrence of agenda-setting effects Relevance Personal experience with public issues Individual differences Incidental learning Agenda-melding Summing up Notes 6 How Agenda Setting Works Carrying capacity of the public agenda Diversity and volatility of the public agenda Education and agenda setting Explaining the transfer of salience Timeframe for effects Diversity of salience measures Summing up Notes 7 Shaping the Media Agenda The president and the national agenda Subsidizing the media agenda Capturing the media agenda Three election agendas Media agendas in local elections Attributes of local issues Three elements of elections A broader portrait Intermedia agenda setting Summing up Notes 8 Consequences of Agenda Setting Priming public opinion Attribute agendas and opinions Forming opinions Influencing behaviour Agenda setting role of business news Summing up Notes 9 Communication and Society Transmission of culture New agenda-setting arenas Other cultural agendas Concepts, domains, and settings Continuing evolution of agenda-setting theory Notes Bibliography Index