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Intermedia Agenda Setting and Global News Coverage
Introduction
Television news programs serve as an important source of information for
most Americans about events taking place all around the world. Based on
limitations of time and space, television news gatekeepers often select
some nations as more newsworthy than other nations. For decades,
researchers have pointed to a lack of balance in news flow and coverage[1]
as a select number of nations are consistently covered while most nations
receive limited to no coverage.[2]
Research into the determinants of international news coverage has
identified several key variables that are associated with the
newsworthiness of nations and of global events. These include deviance[3],
relevance[4] cultural affinity[5] and location in the hierarchy of nations[6].
The current study will argue that the newsworthiness of international news
coverage may not only result from gatekeepers' assessment country based or
event based variables (as is suggested by research on the determinants of
international news coverage) but rather might be influenced by the
international news agendas of other media sources. The current study
suggests that the intermedia agenda setting process might have some
influence on the international news selection process. In order to test
this relationship, the current study will analyze the association between
coverage of international events in the New York Times and subsequent
coverage of the same events in three television news programs.
Literature Review
International news coverage
Many studies conducted during the past few decades have focused on the
nature of international news coverage in the American mass media. Whitney,
Fritzler, Jones, Mazzarella and Rakow[7] for example, found that
international news coverage accounted for 34% of network television news
coverage between 1982-1984. The importance of international news in
television coverage was amplified by Larson and Hardy's[8] study that found
that more than thirty percent of network news content was international news.
Scholarship into international news coverage not only revealed its
importance but its lack of balance in coverage. As noted by Chang[9]
American coverage of international news often focuses on select nations
while abandoning coverage of most nations around the world. The lack of
balance in coverage of nations by US media has been empirically examined by
several studies. Weaver, Porter and Evans[10] conducted a ten year
analysis of television news coverage and found that network coverage
differed significantly across different geographic regions on the
world. Larson's[11] content analysis of television news coverage of
international events between 1972-1981, revealed significant differences in
the amount and scope of coverage that certain regions of the world
receive. His study indicated that some nations were perceived as more
newsworthy than other nations as the USSR, Israel, Britain and South
Vietnam dominated international news coverage on US network television news
while most nations around the world received limited to no coverage.
The determinants of international news coverage
Recognizing that some nations and regions are more newsworthy to the mass
media than others, communication scholars have attempted to identify the
news factors that influence the newsworthiness of nations or international
events. This line of research is often referred to as research of the
determinants of international news coverage. As noted by Wu[12] research
into the determinants of international news coverage has produced more than
50 studies during the past few decades. Based on Galtung and Ruge's
structural theory of foreign news[13], researchers have traditionally
focused on either the contextual or the event oriented theoretical
approaches[14]. Such scholarship has identified four news factor
categories that account for the newsworthiness of nations and international
events. These include deviance and relevance[15], cultural affinity[16]
and the international location of nations within the hierarchy of
nations[17] or world system[18].
In order to operationalize these news factors categories, scholars have
measured dozens of possible variables as possible predictors of
international news coverage.
Shoemaker et al.[19] identified the normative and potential for social
change deviance variables as the key predictors of international news
coverage. These results were further supported in an analysis of three
networks and the New York Times by Shoemaker, Danielian and Brendlinger.[20]
In a survey of 279 newspaper editors, Chang & Lee[21] found a threat to the
United States and U.S. involvement to be key variables that influence
newspaper editors' news selection process. Other relevance variables have
been examined in the context of this research line. For example,
geographic proximity to the United States has also been identified as a
significant relevance variable[22]. Further support for the importance of
relevance as a predictor of international coverage was identified by Golan
and Wanta[23] who found that trade with the U.S. was a significant
predictor of international election coverage.
Cultural affinity variables were also identified by scholars as key
predictors of international coverage. Hester[24] argued that cultural
affinity among nations should lead to coverage. Based on this argument,
several studies into the determinants of international news coverage
applied culture related variables in their analysis of international news
coverage. These include such variables as Religion[25] Language,[26]
migration and ancestry[27] and press freedom[28]
Finally, variables measuring a nation's position in the hierarchy of
nations or world system have been identified as key predictors of
international news coverage. Nations with larger gross national
product[29], wide scale trade[30], military expenditures[31] and
populations[32] were more likely to be covered by the mass media.
As noted by Wu[33], the international news selection process is a
complicated one as it is influenced by many different variables.
One key assumption at the heart of most research into the determinants of
international news coverage is that one can predict coverage based on event
oriented or country based variables. One additional key assumption of the
research is that newspaper and television gatekeepers determine the
newsworthiness of global news based on their individual assessment of
newsworthiness. Determinants research completely ignores such gatekeeping
factors as personal views and roles of media workers, media routines, media
organizations, external pressures, and ideology[34].
Determinants research also ignores the possibility that media gatekeepers
evaluate newsworthiness of global stories based on their coverage in a
different news medium. That is, the research ignores the possibility of
intermedia agenda setting.
The current study will argue that intermedia agenda setting might have some
degree of influence on the likelihood of international news coverage. More
specifically, the current study will analyze the association between
coverage of international stories in the New York Times and the subsequent
coverage of these same stories in three television network evening news
programs.
Intermedia agenda setting
The agenda setting process is based on the effect of the media agenda on
issue saliency in the public agenda[35]. For more than three decades,
researchers have attempted to understand the factors that shape the media
agenda. Research into the sources of the media agenda have identified
intermedia agenda setting as one key source. Intermedia agenda setting
refers to the influence of mass media agendas on each other[36].
Evidence for the important role of intermedia agenda setting on the media
agenda has been provided by numerous studies that measured the process
along wide ranging media. Reese and Danielian[37] identified an intermedia
agenda setting process among newspapers and television networks. Their
study found that television takes its cues on the salience of the drug
issue from coverage in the newspapers.
Roberts and McCombs found that political ads had a significant intermedia
agenda setting effect on coverage of election issues by both newspapers and
television news programs. In a more recent replication of this study,
researchers found that political advertising influenced both the television
and newspapers news agendas.
Similar findings resulted from an analysis of intermedia agenda setting
during the 1996 U.S. presidential election[38]. In this study, Boyle found
that political advertisements influenced the media agendas of both
television newscasts and newspaper coverage of the elections.
Based on the results of research on the intermedia agenda setting, the
current study will examine whether the international news agendas of three
television network evening news programs were influenced by the
international news agendas of the New York Times. If such a process does
indeed take place, it ought to be considered in future research on the
determinants of international news coverage.
Methodology
The current study aims to measure whether intermedia agenda setting may be
a factor that influences international news coverage. More specifically,
the study will measure the influence of morning newspaper coverage of
international stories on subsequent international coverage in three
television network evening news programs.
A content analysis was used in order to analyze the nature of
international news coverage in print and television. The three television
network news programs selected for the study were the ABC, NBC and CBS
programs[39]. . These three network news programs were the subject of
analysis in several key studies on the determinants of international news
coverage[40]. Similarly, the New York Times was selected as the newspaper
of analysis based on its inclusion in many studies on the determinants of
international news coverage[41].
A randomly constructed year between 1995-2000 served as the sample for the
content analysis. The unit of analysis for the NYT was the front page of
the selected day. The unit of analysis for the television news broadcasts
was the individual broadcast of that day. All together, 365 front pages of
the New York Times along with 1,095 network television evening news
broadcasts were analyzed. Each newspaper front page or evening news
broadcast was coded for the identity of the covered nation in the three key
international news stories. Prominence was based on the location of the
story within the broadcast or newspaper. The study coded 192 UN member
nations and included codes for international stories that covered more than
one nation.
In order to ensure inter-coder reliability of measurement, ten percent of
the data was double coded by a second coder. Reliability scores of . 94
for ABC, .91 for CBS, .95 for NBC and .87 for NYT were derived using the
Holsti method[42].
Analysis
Pearson correlations were used in order to asses the intermedia agenda
setting influence of the New York Times on the three evening news
broadcasts. The correlations between the New York Times and the three
newscasts reflect the likelihood of intermedia agenda setting since the
evening news agenda is shaped after the Times is published. The
correlations between the networks' news agendas might point to similarities
or differences in the nature of their international news coverage.
Results
The results of the correlation tests as displayed in Table 1, point to
significant correlations between the international news coverage on the New
York Times and the three network television evening news programs. The
significant correlations between the New York Times and ABC (.155, p=.000),
CBS (.145, p=.000) and NBC (.245, p=.000) point to a strong association
between the international news agenda of the New York Times and the
international news agendas of the three television network news
programs. Since the New York Times is published in the morning and the
television broadcasts during the evening, it will be argued that it is the
New York Times coverage that is somehow influencing network coverage of
international affairs.
Table 1.
Correlations between international news coverage on three television
evening news programs and the New York Times
NYT
ABC
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
.155**
.000
1095
CBS
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
.145**
.000
1095
NBC
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
.257**
.000
1095
Similarly, the results of the correlation tests displayed in Table 2 point
to significant correlations in the international news agendas of the three
television network news broadcasts. International news stories on ABC were
significantly correlated with international news stories on CBS (.273,
p=.000) and NBC (.297, p=.000). Similarly, international news stories on
NBC were significantly correlated with stories on CBS (.376,
p=.000). These correlations do not point to intermedia agenda setting
since they are broadcasted simultaneously. However, these results reveal
the similarities in the international news agendas of the three television
network news programs. This finding is consistent with previous research
finding that found strong similarities in the international news agendas of
these three network television evening news programs[43].
Table 2.
Correlations between international news coverage on three television
evening news programs
ABC
CBS
NBC
ABC
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
1
.
1095
.273**
.000
1095
.297**
.000
1095
CBS
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
.273**
.000
1095
1
.
1095
.376**
.000
1095
NBC
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
.297**
.000
1095
.376**
.000
1095
1
.
1095
Discussion
The current study aimed to measure the intermedia agenda setting influence
of international news coverage in the New York Times on international news
coverage in three leading network television news programs. As noted by
Larson[44], television serves as the key international news source for most
Americans. Understanding what factors shape the media's international news
agenda is of importance considering the agenda setting effect that coverage
might lead to[45].
The current study recognized some of the findings from research on the
determinants of international news coverage. In addition, the study
recognized that several factors identified by the sociology of news
research[46] may shape the international news agendas of television
news. The current study's contribution to relevant research is its
suggestion that the international news agenda of television news programs
may not result from gatekeeping factors or the news values of an event or
nation but rather from an intermedia agenda setting process. More
specifically, the current study raises the possibility and later measures
and supports the notion that evening television news programs evaluate the
newsworthiness of global news based on their coverage in the morning print
edition of a daily newspaper.
The results of the current analysis point to highly significant
correlations between the international news agenda of the morning edition
New York Times and the international news agendas of the ABC, CBS and NBC
evening news broadcasts. The time order of publication / broadcast points
to the likelihood that evening television news gatekeepers' include
coverage in the morning paper as a factor that influences newsworthiness of
international events.
These research findings highlight the need to include intermedia agenda
setting in future studies that examine the highly complex international
news selection process. Complimenting research on the determinants of
international news coverage and flow, intermedia agenda setting may help
mass communication scholars better assess the newsworthiness of
international news stories based on their coverage in different media outlets.
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[34] see Shoemaker, P. J., and Reese, S. D. (1996). Mediating the message:
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[37] Stephen D. Reese and Lucig H. Danielian, "Intermedia Influence and
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26-44).
[39] Source: Vanderbilt Television News Archive (2000). Collection at
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Retrieved September 24, 2003, from http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/search.html
[40] See Shoemaker et al., "Deviant acts"; Shoemaker et al., "Deviance as a"
[41] See Chang et al., "Determinants"
[42] Holsti, O. (1969). Content Analysis for the Social Sciences and
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[44] Larson, J.F. (1982). "International Affairs Coverage on U.S. Evening
News Networks News" in Television Coverage of International Affairs.
Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.
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[46] Shoemaker and Reese, "Mediating"
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