The hypothesis of agenda setting in the new media environment

ARUGUETE NATALIA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Wapor 68th Annual Conference - "The Networks of Public Opinion: New Theories, New Methods"; 2015

WAPOR - UNTref

The analysis of the relationship between traditional media and new virtual spaces based on the Agenda Setting theory is recent and unsystematic. Therefore, there is not a clear answer which indicates whether the new media reports information or if it just repeats it. However, there is a growing tendency to consider that blogs and social networks are disputing the monopoly of the agenda setting with the elite media. Thus, the traditional thesis of Agenda Setting is beginning to be challenged by several investigations, up to the point that certain components of its original conception seem diluted in the current era.Nevertheless, if the Agenda Setting theory studies the relationship between the media agenda, the political agenda and the public agenda, an important question is: in which of these areas is the new media located?For some scholars, Twitter appears to be an expression of public opinion. At this level, the greater heterogeneity in media?s uses by audiences would question the concept of homogeneous and passive consumers.For others, citizen media is an alternative source of information. This raises the question whether the old media is still installing the set of priorities in a monolithic way or if it is necessary to adapt the Agenda Setting?s initial hypothesis to a new model.Finally, if Twitter is considered an instrument of political power, two possible lines of analysis are open. On one side, the ways in which journalism uses this microblogging and the potential mechanism of ?croudsourcing? that is implemented. On the other, the degree of influence the political agenda exerts -or not- on the media agenda.The aim of this paper is to review the literature that discusses pillar premises of theoretical and empirical work and proposes a "new frontier" in Agenda Setting.