Information Subsidy and Agenda-Building in Local Television News

A study of subsidized information received by an Indianapolis television station over a four-week period in 1987 found less than one-fourth of news releases and other subsidies survived the first cut by producers and assignment editors. Information from non-profit organizations and interest groups was kept most frequently, while that from government and business was kept least frequently. It is suggested that two levels of agenda building operate simultaneously in local TV news—the relationship between journalists and local sources, and the less purposive level where non-local sources haphazardly attempt to get on the local agenda.