Agenda-Setting Analysis
Agenda-Setting Analysis is an empirical method for investigating the influence of media coverage on what issues the public considers important. Developed by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw (1972), the approach tests a core hypothesis about media effects: media coverage does not tell people what to think, but rather what to think about. By comparing the issues receiving media coverage with the issues the public identifies as important, researchers measure agenda-setting effects—the degree to which media attention predicts public concern. The method demonstrates media's power to structure the hierarchy of issues, even when media may not directly persuade on specific issues.
Source record
Citations copied verbatim from the method’s source record. No claim-level verification is inferred from them.
- McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176-187. · DOI 10.1086/267990
- Weaver, D. H. (1997). Media agenda setting in the presidential election. In M. E. McCombs, D. L. Shaw, & D. H. Weaver (Eds.), Communication and Democracy (pp. 15-32). Lawrence Erlbaum. · URL
- McCombs, M. E. (2014). Setting the Agenda: The News Media and Public Opinion (2nd ed.). Polity Press. · URL
- Soroka, S. N. (2012). The gatekeepers: The media, the public, and policy-making. Canadian Public Policy, 38(4), 459-474. · URL
Curated claims
Claims persisted in the evidence ledger, each with its own assessment.
This view does not invent a claim assessment when the ledger has none.
Related methods
Generated from the method graph and shown as machine-suggested relations — no evidence claim is inferred.