Public Issue Priority Formation: Media Agenda-Setting and Social Interaction

A mathematical model was developed to explain the public's issue priority by integrating two processes: media agenda-setting and social interaction. The media agenda-setting component of the model, based in part on cognition theory, states that memories for media coverage decline over time for each individual. Both components are discussed in terms of their ability to sustain the priority among people who previously agreed with the importance of the issue, and to recruit others to that issue position. The model was tested using two independently collected time series data sets covering six issues. The results support the hypothesis that the public's issue priority was influenced by both media and social interaction.

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