The Agenda Setting Journal - Volume 1, Issue 1, 2017

Through a thematic meta-analysis, the current study examined theoretical, topical, and methodological trends of agenda-setting research over time from 1972 through 2015. Research trends, topics, media, methods, and utilization of other theories in agendasetting studies were discussed along with the evolution of the theoretical map of agenda-setting studies. Findings indicated that the number of agenda-setting research studies has been increasing over time, along with the expansion of research topics, media, methods, and use of other theories. This study provided a general overview of agenda-setting studies as well as new insights for future research trends and directions.

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.

This study explores frequency of election-related chatter as an antecedent to agenda setting. In this study, we conducted a longitudinal analysis of 38 million tweets from the 2012 election. Users who participate more in election talk align more with partisan media than less active users. Users who participate less align less with partisan media and more with mainstream media. Overall, agenda-setting relationships differ by participation in election-related talk, with more active users exhibiting a greater agenda-setting effect across all media types. This study provides evidence that as Twitter users talk more about the election, they appear to do so in more homophilous information environments. These environments can alter their perceived importance of issues to match more partisan media. This study echoes previous research that has shown large conversations on Twitter to be more akin to partisan information.

Since its initial introduction, the paradigm of agenda-setting has become more refined and complex. In addition to the introduction of intervening factors the agenda-setting paradigm is now challenged by a rapidly changing media environment. This paper reviews the impact of online media technologies and digital platforms on the basic assumptions of the theory. The review sets out to reassess the conceptualization of the agenda-setting theorem by highlighting the development of new processes, attributes and features applicable to the online media. Our review, based on the findings of numerous studies on new media and agenda-setting, suggests several modifications of the basic theory.