Exploring “the World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads”

Abstract

This study examines the Network Agenda Setting Model, the third level of agenda-setting theory. It seeks to expand the model’s scope by testing five years (2007-2011) of aggregated data from national news media and polls. The study finds evidence that the news media bundled issue objects and made them salient in the public’s mind. Findings of the study also demonstrate strong network correlations of issue salience among different types of news media.