Motivational Theories of Agenda-Setting Effects: An Information Selection and Processing Model of Attribute Agenda-Setting

This study explores how agenda-setting theory works in a fragmented media environment while examining psychological motivations that drive selective exposure and information processing in an electoral context. The data suggest that regardless of motivational goals, people with a moderate active need for orientation (NFO) spent more time engaged in cross-network exposure to news media than the other groups. However, driven by directional goals, they were more apt to engage in biased information processing that increased agenda-setting outcomes on candidate attributes. Overall, this study suggests that NFO predicts information-seeking behavior, while motivated reasoning explains how people processed information. Exposure to partisan news reporting on cable television exhibited the strongest agenda-setting associations on candidate attributes.

Coverage of the Russian Doping Scandal in the New York Times: Intramedia and Intermedia Attribute Agenda-Setting Effects

When it publishes a major investigative report or exposé, a prominent news organization can transfer the salience of both an issue and its attributes to other news outlets. Major investigations can also affect how reporters in the same outlet think about an issue in the news. The present study examines intramedia and intermedia agenda-setting effects in the context of sport, drawing on allegations of a state-sponsored doping program in Russian athletics. In May 2016, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, a former doping official in Russia, described the program to reporters at the New York Times, and the ensuing front-page story impacted coverage both internally and externally. The current study considers the implications of these effects for sports journalism and individual athletes.

Attribute agenda setting and information overload

The compelling argument concept, one of the least studied components of attribute agenda setting, suggests that some attributes increase the salience of an object on the public agenda of issues. By conducting two studies, this article examines the compelling argument concept applying both manual content analysis (Study 1) and computerized-analysis tools (Study 2), considering frequency and degree centrality as measures of attribute salience. Results show that the application of computer-aided methods and mathematical techniques can efficiently identify attributes and estimate degree centrality, which are the core elements of the second and third level of the agenda-setting theory, respectively. Also, findings indicate that absolute frequency, rather than the presence or absence of an attribute in a news story, is a more parsimonious measure of redundancy to identify compelling arguments in news stories. This study proposes methodological innovations that further expand the scope of attribute agenda setting in the big data landscape.

Attribute agenda setting and political advertising: (Dis)association effects, modality of presentation, and consequences for voting

We investigated the attribute agenda-setting (AAS) effect of political advertising. Individuals (