Public Salience of Foreign Nations

Abstract

There is a relationship between media mentions of certain foreign nations and reader/viewer learning. A study in Dade County, Florida, matched a content analysis of major media with results of an extensive telephone survey within the context of agenda-setting hypotheses. Cumulative correlations over time suggest that the amount of news coverage devoted to various nations was accurately perceived by the audience. Media coverage, however, did not appear to influence public assessments of foreign nations as friends or enemies of the United States.