How the news media set the agenda

El papel de "agenda-setting" desempeñado por los medios informativos condiciona en gran medida no solamente el abanico de cosas que nos llaman la atención, sino también nuestra manera de entender el mundo ingente de asuntos públicos que existe más allá de nuestra experiencia personal. El Chapel Hill Study de 1972 marcó un antes y un después en el desarrollo de la teoría de agenda setting. Hasta este momento clave se había limitado a la influencia que ejercen los medios informativos sobre el público; a partir de este trascendente estudio la teoría abrió sus horizontes y empezó a abordar el proceso más amplio de agenda setting. En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de dos estudios empíricos publicados recientemente en los EEUU. El primero explica cómo la prensa cambia el foco de su atención dentro de un acontecimiento informativo importante, iluminando primero un aspecto y luego otros para así establecer la prominencia de dicho acontecimiento en la agenda mediática. El segundo explica el efecto que ejerce la prominencia en la agenda mediática sobre la actitud del público y las opiniones que se tienen de las personalidades públicas

Do Cultural Differences Influence Tourists’ Likelihood to Seek Information Via Social Media in the Event of a Crisis?

This study examined the influence of the cultural backgrounds of international travelers on the likelihood to turn to social media to seek information if a crisis were to occur while traveling. Data for this study were generated by surveys from an online panel of international respondents from South Korea, China, India, Australia, and Brazil. A total of 2,416 completed surveys were used. The results indicated that travelers from different countries varied in their likelihood to seek information via social media during a crisis. Tourists from South Korea were found to be the most likely to access social media to find information about a crisis while traveling. The different cultures also had different preferred sources for seeking information during a crisis. This study demonstrated the significance of examining the influence of characteristics on the potential use of social media during a crisis. Implications and recommendations are presented

Congressional Agenda-Building: Examining the Influence of Congressional Communications from the Speaker of the House

This study explored the role of the Speaker of the House in shaping the salience of political issues and attributes in news media coverage and policymaking in 2007. Specifically, it analyzed 533 press releases, 433 news articles, and 47 daily Congressional calendars of business. Significant correlations were found supporting traditional first-level and second-level agenda-building linkages between Congressional communications and media coverage; whereas no relationships were found between issue or attribute salience in news releases and actual Congressional activities. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed

Gender, Residence, Past Experience and Communication in Tourist Hurricane Evacuation

The paper discusses the role of gender, residence, and past experience with hurricanes in affecting tourists’ voluntary evacuation in the event of hurricanes. Specifically the study examines how the aforesaid variables influence perceived credibility of the information source and how such perception is translated into actual information search behaviors leading to a voluntary evacuation decision. The paper is guided by utility maximization under environmental risks and bounded rationality. The findings indicate that the aforesaid variables significantly influence the perception of the credibility of information sources and information search behaviors leading to voluntary evacuation decisions. Implications of the findings are also discusse

Chikungunya Disease Awareness Among U.S. Travelers to Caribbean Destinations

Introduction: This study investigated chikungunya disease awareness and its predictors, the level of adoption of recommended personal protective behaviors against chikungunya, and the health information-seeking behavior of U.S. travelers to Caribbean destinations.Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective online survey of 653 adult U.S. international travelers who visited any one of 34 Caribbean destinations was conducted in October 2015. Study participants were recruited through Amazon® Mechanical Turk. Travelers who met the inclusion criteria and gave informed consent were subsequently redirected to complete the survey which was domiciled in Qualtrics®.Results: Results regarding health information-seeking behavior indicated that 51% of study participants had never sought information about chikungunya or any vector-borne illnesses. Only thirty percent of study participants reported having heard of chikungunya disease before participating in this study. After adjusting for the presence of other variables in a logistic regression model, gender of female, higher levels of education, more time spent at the destination, and a higher number of hours spent engaging in outdoor activities were factors significantly associated with chikungunya disease awareness. Study results also showed that twenty-two percent of study participants did not engage in any of the three recommended personal protective behaviors under investigation.Conclusion: Study findings highlighted a gap in existing approaches to health information dissemination vis-à-vis adoption of recommended personal protective behaviors, especially for U.S. travelers at risk for chikungunya and other emerging mosquito-borne infectious diseases in Caribbean destinations

Interpreting the Media Logic behind Editorial Decisions

This article enters into debates about media logic in political coverage by way of a case study of the 2015 U.K. General Election. We quantitatively and qualitatively examine two dominant themes of coverage—news about campaign rallies and horse-race reporting—as both are widely seen in political communication scholarship as symptomatic of a media logic. We draw on a content analysis of BBC, ITV, Sky News, Channel 4, and Channel 5 U.K. national television newscasts and semi-structured interviews with their heads of news and/or senior editors to help interpret how far a media logic was the editorial driving force behind coverage. At face value, our content analysis appears to support the media logic thesis, with all broadcasters—in particular commercial television newscasts—covering more process than policy issues. But our case study questions the antecedents of media logic and shines a light on a political logic that may have remained in the dark in large-scale content analysis studies. In following a political logic, we argue that this promoted the horse-race narrative, and naturalized the parties’ highly stage-managed rallies and walkabout

Influence of Issue Decision Salience on Vote Choice : Linking Agenda Setting, Priming, and Issue Ownership

This study introduces issue decision salience as a mechanism for understanding how issue ownership processes impact vote choice, using panel data from the 2006 Swedish national elections. A model is developed probing the multiple influences of news attention and discussion on issue decision salience, party evaluation, candidate evaluation, and vote decision. The results suggest that a synthesis of agenda setting and priming with issue ownership offers a valuable framework for documenting how issue salience might affect ballot choice