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Diversity of Journalisms. Proceedings of ECREA/CICOM Conference, Pamplona, 4-5 July 2011
effects of the media on the public, even though they did not find a specific name at the
time, to refer to the effects of the media upon public opinion.
When Professor Maxwell McCombs and Professor Donald Shaw published the Chapel
Hill study in 1968, they actually built the new pillars of contemporary media and opinion
research by mentioning the term ‘agenda-setting’ for the very first time. A new research
field was born with this concept, which intended to explore the effects of the media on
the public agenda. This basically meant that these early researchers intended to
measure the amount of power that the main stream media (MSM) had over the
salience of topics debated by the public sphere.
Extensive research on this topic has been done since the agenda-setting theory was
first defined, although media scenario has substantially changed over the years
towards a more fragmented reality, where a broader media offer fights for smaller
portions of audience. The Internet has undoubtedly brought about this change by
offering new communication possibilities and by transforming the traditional role of
consumers. Denis McQuail explains that such change has moved the concept of
audience towards a much more active agent.
“The rise of online media expands the range of media use and undermines the
established notions of audience. The changing socio-cultural climate and the evolving
media structure affect the questions about the audience. Not only does the changing
reality of media use alter the goals of audience research, it also asks for reconceptualisation
of the audience concept that has probably exceeded its useful
lifespan. Diversification and relocation of supply and reception coupled with interactivity
have caused a significant shift in the balance of power affecting choice and response”.
(2009:12)
This new reality has forced research to adapt itself to the new variables, which at the
same time means that agenda-setting no longer refers only to its original meaning, but
has enlarged itself to include all the different consequences that arise from the
revolution of the new media and the Internet. One such new nuance is the effect that
the agenda-setting theory has on public images of politicians, and not just on their
political agendas. Professor M. McCombs' comment upon reviewing this new age of
influences is:
“More recently, agenda-setting theory has encompassed public opinion about political
candidates and other public figures, especially the images that the public holds of these
individuals and the contributions of the mass media to those public images. This larger
agenda of topics –public figures as well as public issues– marks an important
theoretical expansion from the beginning of the communication process, what topics
the media and the public are paying attention to and regard as important, to a
subsequent stage, how the media and public perceive and understand the details of
these topics. This second stage in turn, is the opening gambit for mapping the
consequences of the media´s agenda-setting role for attitudes, opinions and
behaviours”. (2004:xii)
Our main goal in this study is to contribute to the mapping of the new ‘agenda-setting
role’ for political opinions on the digital spectrum. Therefore, in order to understand
political discussion and the building of public images in the Internet, it is essential to
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