Media, public opinion and parliamentary agendas’ effect in political parties’ agenda-setting

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-42
Author(s):  
Ana Maria Belchior
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Party Manifesto ◽  
Media Agenda ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
The Media ◽  
Policy Agendas

Abstract Why do parties pay more attention to some policy issues than to others? To what extent does policy attention conveyed by the media, public opinion, and parliament explain party agenda-setting? And, more specifically, to what extent does the media agenda influence other agenda effects? This paper addresses these questions in an original manner by analyzing the influence of these three agendas – media, public opinion, and parliament – in party manifesto elaboration. The analysis relies on an extensive database of the Portuguese Policy Agendas Project that includes media attention, voter preferences, parliamentary questions and pledges in manifestos, between 1995 and 2015. Our findings show that the media agenda is the most influential in party manifesto elaboration, and that the other agendas have a stronger effect when the media also give attention to the issue. This depends, however, on the political party being in cabinet or in opposition, as well as on the economic context. These findings have important implications for party competition literature.

A matter of conflict: How events and parties shape the news coverage of EU affairs

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 593-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Guinaudeau ◽  
Anna M Palau
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Time Series Models ◽  
Monthly Data ◽  
Media Agenda ◽  
The Media ◽  
Term Analysis ◽  
The Eu

This article argues that external factors of EU coverage in the media need to be reassessed against domestic factors, in particular how parties modulate media attention to EU affairs. We explain which parties may set the EU on the media agenda, and how parties interact with events depending on the level of conflict over EU issues. Drawing on the first long-term analysis of partisan agenda-setting of EU affairs in the media – based on ARIMA time-series models of monthly data collected for six newspapers from 1990 to 2015 – we determine the scale of partisan agenda-setting and find partial support for our model. Political parties do not face the intrusion of EU issues, but some of them are actively involved in this process.

Candidate Choice in Political Advertising: What Determines Who Gets Attention?

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Lefevere ◽  
Régis Dandoy
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Political Advertisements ◽  
Media Agenda ◽  
The Media ◽  
Dominant Actor ◽  
Run Up ◽  
Regional Elections

In the run up to the elections, parties have several ways of communicating with voters. In this article, we focus on one piece of the puzzle: advertisements of political parties in the mass media. More specifically, we are interested in the choice of candidates within these advertisements. In countries where parties are the dominant actor, they are faced with a choice: not all candidates can be promoted in the campaign, as this would be too costly and inefficient. Thus, the first question we want to answer is which factors determine candidate choice in political advertisements? Secondly, does candidate choice in political advertisements have an effect on the subsequent coverage in media as well? Agenda setting research has shown that as far as issues are concerned, advertisements do set the media agenda. We use a content analysis of seven magazines and newspapers that was collected in the run up to the 2009 regional elections in Flanders, the largest region of Belgium. The results indicate that both internal party hierarchy, as well as external visibility of candidates determines candidate choice in political advertisements. Furthermore, the agenda setting effect of political advertisements is confirmed as well.

Agenda-Setting Dynamics during the Campaign Period

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Partheymüller
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
News Media ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Information Environment ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Agenda Setter ◽  
Memory Decay ◽  
The Media

It is widely believed that the news media have a strong influence on defining what are the most important problems facing the country during election campaigns. Yet, recent research has pointed to several factors that may limit the mass media’s agenda-setting power. Linking news media content to rolling cross-section survey data, the chapter examines the role of three such limiting factors in the context of the 2009 and the 2013 German federal elections: (1) rapid memory decay on the part of voters, (2) advertising by the political parties, and (3) the fragmentation of the media landscape. The results show that the mass media may serve as a powerful agenda setter, but also demonstrate that the media’s influence is strictly limited by voters’ cognitive capacities and the structure of the campaign information environment.

scholarly journals The Accumulation Effect

2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raivo Palmaru
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys ◽  
Accumulation Effect ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Media ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Prevailing View

Abstract Although numerous studies over the past 20 years have revealed a clear connection between content analysis statistics and the results of public opinion surveys, the media’s “minimal effects” hypothesis still remains the overwhelmingly prevailing view. Among other things, it is not clear which of the two influences the other: Do people’s political preferences influence the media or do the media influence people’s preferences? In order to test this, the results of the 1999 and 2003 general elections and the 2002 local elections in Estonia, as well as the results of current public opinion surveys, were compared to the coverage given to the campaigning parties in the largest Estonian newspapers. The analysis showed that the coverage of political parties in the print media, as determined by the frequency of valuative notations, described the election results to a great extent. It is noteworthy that a change in media content was followed by a change in public opinion. At the same time, an accumulation effect became obvious: The voters’ preferences for political parties accumulated diachronically during the course of several weeks based on the information that was available to them.

Agenda-Setting Theory

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell McCombs ◽  
Sebastián Valenzuela
Keyword(s):  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Issue Salience ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Agenda ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
The Media ◽  
Setting Theory ◽  
Attribute Priming ◽  
Attribute Agenda Setting

This chapter discusses contemporary directions of agenda-setting research. It reviews the basic concept of agenda setting, the transfer of salience from the media agenda to the public agenda as a key step in the formation of public opinion, the concept of need for orientation as a determinant of issue salience, the ways people learn the media agenda, attribute agenda setting, and the consequences of agenda setting that result from priming and attribute priming. Across the theoretical areas found in the agenda-setting tradition, future studies can contribute to the role of news in media effects by showing how agenda setting evolves in the new and expanding media landscape as well as continuing to refine agenda setting’s core concepts.

Coverage of Cultural Heritage in Mass Media Publications in Zimbabwe

2018 ◽  
pp. 428-442
Author(s):  
Marlvern Mabgwe ◽  
Petronella Katekwe
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Agenda ◽  
Working Hypothesis

This chapter evaluates the pattern and trend of mass media coverage of Zimbabwe's cultural heritage, with a focus on the newspaper publications produced between the years 2010 and 2015. The working hypothesis is that the level and nature of mass media coverage of cultural heritage is directly proportional to the nature of public opinion and attitude towards their own cultural heritage. As such, in order for cultural heritage to make a meaningful contribution to socio-economic and political developmental in Zimbabwe, there is a need for cultural heritage to be visible in all mass media productions. Using document analysis, questionnaires, and interviews, the research identified that the coverage of cultural heritage in mass media in Zimbabwe is alarmingly low. That jeopardizes the regard of cultural heritage as a driver for socio-economic and political development amongst the public. However, through reprioritization of media agenda-setting, media policy, and fostering of a closer collaboration between heritage managers and media professionals, the situation can be salvaged in Zimbabwe.

The Media Agenda

2019 ◽  
pp. 271-281
Author(s):  
Rens Vliegenthart ◽  
Stefaan Walgrave
Keyword(s):  
Agenda Setting ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
International Context ◽  
Vast Amount ◽  
Media Agenda ◽  
The Media ◽  
Western European ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Research Studies

This chapter discusses what role the media agenda has played in (comparative) agenda research. Studies into the characteristics of the media agenda demonstrate that, compared to other agendas, the media agenda is characterized by high levels of responsiveness and volatility and that various outlets that jointly constitute the agenda strongly influence each other. In recent years, a vast amount of research has considered the impact of the media agenda on the parliamentary agenda (political agenda-setting) and how the size of this impact depends on a wide variety of contingent factors. Our empirical example uncovers considerable overlap in media agendas across various Western European countries, reflecting the importance of the international context in the construction of news.

Media vs. candidates and minorities vs. majorities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briana Trifiro ◽  
Yiyan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Time Series Analysis ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Subsequent Performance ◽  
Setting Process ◽  
The Media ◽  
Online Web

Abstract Despite an abundance of research dedicated to the first level agenda setting process in political elections, there is a considerable gap within the literature regarding how the amount of media coverage granted to minority candidates – people of color and women – influence their salience in public opinion. The current study seeks to address this gap by analyzing the effects of online coverage of minority candidates and their subsequent performance in national polling data from June 1, 2019 to November 20, 2019. The present study utilizes a time-series analysis to compare three information formats: Twitter accounts of major media organizations, online web mentions of candidates from these organizations, and the candidates’ own Twitter presence. The presented findings illustrate important relationships – specifically, where candidates of color were able to set their own agenda through their Twitter accounts as opposed to coverage that they received from the media.

scholarly journals The Don and Helen New Zealand election 2005: A media a-gender?

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Devere ◽  
Sharyn Graham Davies
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
International Research ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Women Politicians ◽  
News Story ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Media Agenda ◽  
The Media ◽  
Maternal Status

The media uses the technique of framing to process and package information in order to make sense of the material and present a news ‘story’ which is accessible to the audience. International research reports demonstrate a consistent ‘gendered’ framing of media coverage. ‘Gendering’ refers to the highlighting of a person’s gender, when this is not particularly relevant to the context. Usually gendering involves seeing the male as the norm, and the female as the remarkable. In terms of the media and politics, this gendering includes the under-representation of women politicians, an emphasis on their appearance, marital and maternal status, and personality rather than the policies and issues of debate. More recently, however, there is evidence that in some contexts the media is becoming less overtly biased in its representation of women politicians. While there are still many ways in which women are presented differently from their male counterparts, there is also some evidence that an emphasis on gender is initiated by the party campaigns rather than being a result of media agenda-setting.

scholarly journals The Myth of the Angry Voters: Parliamentary Election in Slovak Republic

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-48
Author(s):  
Viera Žúborová ◽  
Ingrid Borarosová
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Slovak Republic ◽  
Past History ◽  
National Level ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Parliamentary Election ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The Media

Abstract The recent parliamentary elections which took place in The Slovak Republic in March 2016 opened for many national and international commentators the bottled of demons from the past history of Slovakia. For the first time a Far right extremist political party entered into parliament and held seats there. They gained more than some standard political parties and also were not dubbed as the “black” horse of this election. As they were not measured by public opinion. The main purpose of this article is to analyze the fundamental purpose of voters that had elected this political party and on the other hand the main reason that has opened the parliamentary door to such a political entity that was not visible in the previous electoral periods or played any important role in the independence of Slovak republic. Our main assumption will be that which is taken from the media analysis before the parliamentary election and public opinion research. Our main variable from the external environment will be the migration refugee crisis and the rhetoric of political parties acting at national level. We can assume that this was one of the main reason for the entry of this political party within others which were “hidden” or covered by this crisis and were not mediatized in the media.

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