The role of the news media in defining the important issues of the day, also known as the agenda-setting influence of mass communication, has received widespread attention over the past 20 years. Since the publication of McCombs and Shaw's seminal empirical study, more than one hundred journal articles and monographs have appeared. This collection exemplifies the major phases of research on agenda-setting: tests of the basic hypothesis, contingent conditions affecting the strength of this influence, the natural history of public issues, mass media influence on public policy, and the role of...

This volume offers a guide to the future of agenda-setting for those already reasonably well-versed in the research of the last 25 years. The theoretical essays build on research in Shaw and McComb's Public Opinion Quarterly (1972), concerning the effects of various media and political agendas.

In this timely volume, the authors explore public affairs journalism, a practice that lies at the core of the journalism profession. They go beyond the journalistic instruction for reporting and presenting news to reflect on why journalism works the way it does. Asking current and future journalists the critical questions, "Why do we do it?" and "What are the ways of fulfilling the goals of journalism?" their discussion stimulates the examination of contemporary practice, probing the foundations of public affairs journalism.

With its detailed examination of factors influencing...

This text explores public affairs journalism - a practice that lies at the core of the journalism profession. It goes beyond the journalistic instruction for reporting, presenting news and reflecting on why journalism works the way it does even though other options are available. Probing the foundations of public affairs journalism, the book provides a detailed discussion of journalism's goals and facilitates understanding of the larger role journalism has in society. journalism, to bring to the forefront the core professional question of why do we do it. For newsrooms, the aim is to...

The role of the news media in defining the important issues of the day, also known as the agenda-setting influence of mass communication, has received widespread attention over the past 20 years. Since the publication of McCombs and Shaw's seminal empirical study, more than one hundred journal articles and monographs have appeared. This collection exemplifies the major phases of research on agenda-setting: tests of the basic hypothesis, contingent conditions affecting the strength of this influence, the natural history of public issues, mass media influence on public policy, and the role of...