Mass media's agenda-setting function in the age of globalization: a multi-national agenda-setting test

Abstract

This dissertation explores mass media's agenda-setting function in a context of increased globalization to determine whether the theory, which was built upon intra-nation environments, functions in the global setting. The study matches public agendas with media agendas to investigate agenda-setting effects in 11 countries worldwide. It also compares media agendas across countries, both at the object level and the attribute level, to consider whether inter-nation intermedia influence exists. The results suggest a general pattern of the agenda-setting function of mass media in the countries examined. The study finds evidence of inter-nation intermedia influence and thus presents a new way to look at the intermedia agenda-setting relationship - moving this research from comparisons within a local area to cross-national intermedia comparisons. Moreover, this study explores for evidence of directional inter-nation intermedia agenda-setting, presuming that the media of the pivotal and powerful West have stronger influence on their non-Western counterparts than vice versa. Due to the lack of evidence found, the study cannot argue a general causality between Western and non-Western countries' media. Finally, the study examines second level intermedia agenda-setting effect at the global level to determine whether the attribute agendas of the media in different countries are dissimilar. The multi-national investigation did not yield clear-cut results. Findings suggest a complex inter-nation intermedia relationship at the attribute level and imply that, in the age of globalization, a simple ideological difference reasoning derived from the Cold War days is probably outdated.

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