Intermedia Agenda Setting in Television, Advertising, and Blogs During the 2004 Election

Abstract

This study examined whether the candidate-controlled public relations tools of political ads and candidate blogs were successful in influencing the issue and news agenda of the major television news networks during the 2004 presidential election. Data showed strong correlations between blogs and the media agenda. Advertisements did not correlate with the media agenda. Cross-lag analyses showed that the media set the candidates' agenda. The authors suggest intermedia agenda setting occurred as the media transferred their agenda to campaign blogs.

Notes

¹Kurtz mentioned the cases where blogs impacted the media agenda as the racist comment made by then majority leader Trent Lott at Strom Thurmon's 100th birthday party in 2002; the call for Dan Rather's resignation after he endorsed the validity of false documents on 60 Minutes discrediting president George W. Bush's Texas National Guard service; and the coverage of Eason Jordan, a CNN executive, and his allegations that the U.S. military was killing journalists in Iraq.

²The formula used to compute reliability is a formula given by North, Holsti, Zaninovich, and Zinnes (1963). It is given for two coders and can be modified for any number of coders. R = 2 (C_1,2)/C₁ + C_2. C_1,2 = number of category assignments both coders agree on C ₁ + C ₂ = total category assignments made by both coders.

*p .05.

**p .01.

***p .001.

*p .05.

**p .01.

***p .001.

³Bush's blog posts were correlated with Kerry's ads; cross-lagged correlation noted a strong relationship between the candidate blogs, but the correlation of Kerry's blog to Bush's blog was higher suggesting that Kerry's posts set the agenda for those on the Bush blog.