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The Agenda-Setting Process: Media, Public and Policy Agenda. Source: Dearing, J.W., Rogers, E.M. Communication Concepts 6: Agenda-Setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications: 1996: 5.
Source publication
Abstract
Public health studies thus far have not identified methods toward developing a shared vision to reduce health disparities in a unique area such as the U.S./Mexico border region. Purpose: To identify strategies to foster a shared vision among those in the media, the public, and policy arenas to help reduce health disparities in the U.S.- Me...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... gain the attention of media, public and policy professionals (Dearing & Rogers, 1996; Kozel, et al, 2006). What the media displays as important, influences viewers, readers, and listeners what issues to talk about and therefore gains importance on the public agenda (Dearing & Rogers, 1996; Kozel, et al, 2006). The policy agenda “is of key importance because it represents an outcome of activity and influence on the media and public agenda (Dearing & Rogers, 1996, p. 72).” In the model in Figure 2, the media agenda, public agenda and policy agenda’s interrelation is shown in the center. Personal experiences and interpersonal communication can influence any one of the agendas at any given time by cueing individuals to action by the help or delay of the gatekeepers, i.e. those who decide what issues are newsworthy or salient for newspapers, etc., of influential media. Real world indicators have some influence on the 3 agendas but not nearly as much as that from variables previously mentioned. In the same area of agenda setting, the process that focuses on how health promotion and public health policy agendas are set and influenced is Health Promotion Agenda - Setting (HPA-S) (Kozel, et al, 2003; Kozel, et al, 2006). Health promotion issues tend to be controversial and attain different and even conflicting viewpoints. To advance health policy development, an issue must not only become an important problem but a problem in the community, affecting the media, public and policy agendas (Kozel, et al, 2006). Understanding the HPA-S process can greatly assist Health Education and Promotion practitioners by providing an approach to innovative advocacy for improving health promotion policy formulation and adoption (Kozel, et al, 2006). Agenda setting and health promotion agenda setting alike involve several variables, one being a shared vision that allow successful utilization of the process to help reduce health disparities and influence health policy. ...
Citations
... As indicated by McCombs [45], such studies are limited by variables related to time, place, and the selection of measurement and analysis tools; a repeated examination of a model and the replication of ideas are thus critical requirements in the validation of results. Utilizing agenda setting in the field of health promotion will encounter many challenges in research and practice [93]. ...
... Many factors and variables must be considered, guided by a more in-depth understanding of the process of agenda setting in relation to its possible applications [93]. This will provide valuable strategies and themes for the successful application of agenda setting in promoting the public's health [93]. ...
... Many factors and variables must be considered, guided by a more in-depth understanding of the process of agenda setting in relation to its possible applications [93]. This will provide valuable strategies and themes for the successful application of agenda setting in promoting the public's health [93]. ...
Background:
The foundation of best practice in health promotion is a robust theoretical base that informs design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions that promote the public's health. This study provides a novel contribution to health promotion through the adaptation of the agenda-setting approach in response to the contribution of social media. This exploration and proposed adaptation is derived from a study that examined the effectiveness of Twitter in influencing agenda setting among users in relation to road traffic accidents in Saudi Arabia.
Objective:
The proposed adaptations to the agenda-setting model to be explored reflect two levels of engagement: agenda setting within the social media sphere and the position of social media within classic agenda setting. This exploratory research aims to assess the veracity of the proposed adaptations on the basis of the hypotheses developed to test these two levels of engagement.
Methods:
To validate the hypotheses, we collected and analyzed data from two primary sources: Twitter activities and Saudi national newspapers. Keyword mentions served as indicators of agenda promotion; for Twitter, interactions were used to measure the process of agenda setting within the platform. The Twitter final dataset comprised 59,046 tweets and 38,066 users who contributed by tweeting, replying, or retweeting. Variables were collected for each tweet and user. In addition, 518 keyword mentions were recorded from six popular Saudi national newspapers.
Results:
The results showed significant ratification of the study hypotheses at both levels of engagement that framed the proposed adaptions. The results indicate that social media facilitates the contribution of individuals in influencing agendas (individual users accounted for 76.29%, 67.79%, and 96.16% of retweet impressions, total impressions, and amplification multipliers, respectively), a component missing from traditional constructions of agenda-setting models. The influence of organizations on agenda setting is also highlighted (in the data of user interactions, organizational accounts registered 17% and 14.74% as source and target of interactions, respectively). In addition, 13 striking similarities showed the relationship between newspapers and Twitter on the mentions trends line.
Conclusions:
The effective use of social media platforms in health promotion intervention programs requires new strategies that consider the limitations of traditional communication channels. Conducting research is vital to establishing a strong basis for modifying, designing, and developing new health promotion strategies and approaches.
