Minimal and Massive! Politicians’ Views on the Media’s Political Agenda-Setting Power Revisited

Abstract

Different methods have yielded different results regarding the media’s political agenda-setting power: Time-series studies comparing agendas in the media and politics have pointed to a minimal and surveys of politicians to massive media influence. Inspired by these findings and the suggested explanations for them, this article studies in detail politicians’ views on the media’s political agenda-setting power: How do politicians assess media’s power over different types of agendas, do they distinguish between different forms of media power, and does their individual political power position or trust in the media affect how they perceive the media’s power? A survey of Finnish members of parliament (MPs) shows that politicians perceive the media’s power to be massive regarding symbolic but minimal or moderate regarding substantial political agendas. However, many politicians do not clearly distinguish between the media’s political agenda-setting power and its political framing power. Neither experiences of being a minister nor the tendency to use the media as a scapegoat affect politicians’ views on media power in politics. The findings improve empirical knowledge on the media’s power in politics, strengthen the foundations for interpreting existing survey results, and provide a basis for further improving future surveys on media power.