Setting the journalist agenda: Influences from journalists' individual characteristics and from media factors

Journalism and Mass Communication Quaterly

Volumn 77, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 243-257

  Peiser, Wolfram ^a  

^a JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0039028984     PISSN: 10776990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/107769900007700202     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. See James W. Dearing and Everett M. Rogers, Agenda-Setting (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996); Everett M. Rogers and James W. Dearing, "Agenda-Setting Research: Where Has It Been, Where Is It Going?, "in Communication Yearbookl 11, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1988), 555-594.
2. See James W. Dearing and Everett M. Rogers, Agenda-Setting (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996); Everett M. Rogers and James W. Dearing, "Agenda-Setting Research: Where Has It Been, Where Is It Going?, "in Communication Yearbookl 11, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1988), 555-594.
3. Maxwell E. McCombs and Donald L. Shaw, "The Evolution of Agenda-Setting Research: Twenty-Five Years in the Marketplace of Ideas, "Journal of Communication 43 (spring 1993): 58-67; Stephen D. Reese, "Setting the Media's Agenda: A Power Balance Perspective, "in Communication Yearbook 14, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), 309-340; Everett M. Rogers, James W. Dearing, and Dorine Bregman, "The Anatomy of Agenda-Setting Research, "Journal of Communication 43 (spring 1993): 68-84.
4. Maxwell E. McCombs and Donald L. Shaw, "The Evolution of Agenda-Setting Research: Twenty-Five Years in the Marketplace of Ideas, "Journal of Communication 43 (spring 1993): 58-67; Stephen D. Reese, "Setting the Media's Agenda: A Power Balance Perspective, "in Communication Yearbook 14, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), 309-340; Everett M. Rogers, James W. Dearing, and Dorine Bregman, "The Anatomy of Agenda-Setting Research, "Journal of Communication 43 (spring 1993): 68-84.
5. Maxwell E. McCombs and Donald L. Shaw, "The Evolution of Agenda-Setting Research: Twenty-Five Years in the Marketplace of Ideas, "Journal of Communication 43 (spring 1993): 58-67; Stephen D. Reese, "Setting the Media's Agenda: A Power Balance Perspective, "in Communication Yearbook 14, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), 309-340; Everett M. Rogers, James W. Dearing, and Dorine Bregman, "The Anatomy of Agenda-Setting Research, "Journal of Communication 43 (spring 1993): 68-84.
6. For a detailed account of the various influences on media content, see Pamela J. Shoemaker and Stephen D. Reese, Mediating the Message. Theories of Influences on Mass Media Content, 2d ed. (White Plains, NY: Longman, 1996).
7. David H. Weaver, ed., with the assistance of Wei Wu, The Global Journalist. News People Around the World (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1998).
8. David Weaver, "Introduction, "in The Global Journalist, ed. Weaver with Wu, 2.
9. Wolfgang Donsbach, "Journalismus versus journalism - ein Vergleich zum Verhältnis von Medien und Politik in Deutschland und in den USA, "in Beziehungsspiele - Medien und Politik in der öffentlichen Diskussion. Fallstudien und Analysen (Gütersloh, Germany: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, 1993), 283-315; John Henningham, "Ideological Differences Between Australian Journalists and Their Public, "Press/Politics 3 (winter 1998): 92-101; Weaver, The Global Journalist; David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American Journalist in the 1990s. U.S. News People at the End of an Era (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1996).
10. Wolfgang Donsbach, "Journalismus versus journalism - ein Vergleich zum Verhältnis von Medien und Politik in Deutschland und in den USA, "in Beziehungsspiele - Medien und Politik in der öffentlichen Diskussion. Fallstudien und Analysen (Gütersloh, Germany: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, 1993), 283-315; John Henningham, "Ideological Differences Between Australian Journalists and Their Public, "Press/Politics 3 (winter 1998): 92-101; Weaver, The Global Journalist; David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American Journalist in the 1990s. U.S. News People at the End of an Era (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1996).
11. Wolfgang Donsbach, "Journalismus versus journalism - ein Vergleich zum Verhältnis von Medien und Politik in Deutschland und in den USA, "in Beziehungsspiele - Medien und Politik in der öffentlichen Diskussion. Fallstudien und Analysen (Gütersloh, Germany: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, 1993), 283-315; John Henningham, "Ideological Differences Between Australian Journalists and Their Public, "Press/Politics 3 (winter 1998): 92-101; Weaver, The Global Journalist; David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American Journalist in the 1990s. U.S. News People at the End of an Era (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1996).
12. Wolfgang Donsbach, "Journalismus versus journalism - ein Vergleich zum Verhältnis von Medien und Politik in Deutschland und in den USA, "in Beziehungsspiele - Medien und Politik in der öffentlichen Diskussion. Fallstudien und Analysen (Gütersloh, Germany: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, 1993), 283-315; John Henningham, "Ideological Differences Between Australian Journalists and Their Public, "Press/Politics 3 (winter 1998): 92-101; Weaver, The Global Journalist; David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, The American Journalist in the 1990s. U.S. News People at the End of an Era (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1996).
13. Thomas E. Patterson and Wolfgang Donsbach, "News Decisions: Journalists as Partisan Actors, "Political Communication 13 (October-December 1996): 455-68.
14. Johannes Raabe, "Journalisten aus dem Outer Space? Zur Verortung journalistischer Akteure in der Gesellschaft" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 1999).
15. E.g., Ruth C. Flegel and Steven H. Chaffee, "Influences of Editors, Readers, and Personal Opinions on Reporters, "Journalism Quarterly 48 (winter 1971): 645-51; Patterson and Donsbach, "News Decisions"; see also Wolfgang Donsbach, "Journalism Research, "in The German Communication Yearbook, ed. Hans-Bernd Brosius and Christina Holtz-Bacha (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1999), 159-80.
16. E.g., Ruth C. Flegel and Steven H. Chaffee, "Influences of Editors, Readers, and Personal Opinions on Reporters, "Journalism Quarterly 48 (winter 1971): 645-51; Patterson and Donsbach, "News Decisions"; see also Wolfgang Donsbach, "Journalism Research, "in The German Communication Yearbook, ed. Hans-Bernd Brosius and Christina Holtz-Bacha (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1999), 159-80.
17. E.g., Ruth C. Flegel and Steven H. Chaffee, "Influences of Editors, Readers, and Personal Opinions on Reporters, "Journalism Quarterly 48 (winter 1971): 645-51; Patterson and Donsbach, "News Decisions"; see also Wolfgang Donsbach, "Journalism Research, "in The German Communication Yearbook, ed. Hans-Bernd Brosius and Christina Holtz-Bacha (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1999), 159-80.
18. Henningham, "Ideological Differences."
19. For a general discussion of the cohort dimension's relevance to journalists and to journalism as a whole, see Kazuto Kojima, "Generational Change and Journalism - Methodology and Tentative Analysis, "Studies of Broadcasting 22 (1986): 79-105.
20. Weaver, The Global Journalist.
21. Marilyn E. Gist, "Through the Looking Glass. Diversity and Reflected Appraisals of the Self in Mass Media, "in Women in Mass Communication, 2d ed., ed. Pamela J. Creedon (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993), 104-117; Kurt Lang, Gladys Engel Lang, Hans-Mathias Kepplinger, and Simone Ehmig, "Collective Memory and Political Generations: A Survey of German Journalists, "Political Communication 10 (July-September 1993): 211-29.
22. Marilyn E. Gist, "Through the Looking Glass. Diversity and Reflected Appraisals of the Self in Mass Media, "in Women in Mass Communication, 2d ed., ed. Pamela J. Creedon (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1993), 104-117; Kurt Lang, Gladys Engel Lang, Hans-Mathias Kepplinger, and Simone Ehmig, "Collective Memory and Political Generations: A Survey of German Journalists, "Political Communication 10 (July-September 1993): 211-29.
23. Lang et al., "Collective Memory."
24. See, e.g., Gist, "Through the Looking Glass."
25. Weaver, The Global Journalist.
26. E.g., Carol M. Liebler and Susan J. Smith, "Tracking Gender Differences: A Comparative Analysis of Network Correspondents and Their Sources, "Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 41 (winter 1997): 58-68; Sigman L. Splichal and Bruce Garrison, "Gender As a Factor in Newsroom Managers' Views on Covering The Private Lives of Politicians, "Mass Comm Review 22 (1 & 2, 1995): 101-108.
27. E.g., Carol M. Liebler and Susan J. Smith, "Tracking Gender Differences: A Comparative Analysis of Network Correspondents and Their Sources, "Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 41 (winter 1997): 58-68; Sigman L. Splichal and Bruce Garrison, "Gender As a Factor in Newsroom Managers' Views on Covering The Private Lives of Politicians, "Mass Comm Review 22 (1 & 2, 1995): 101-108.
28. Kay Mills, "What Difference Do Women Journalists Make?, "in Women, Media, and Politics, ed. Pippa Norris (NY: Oxford University Press, 1997), 41-55.
29. Weaver and Wilhoit, The American Journalist.
30. Gist, "Through the Looking Glass, "109.
31. Shoemaker and Reese, Mediating the Message.
32. David Weaver, "Women as Journalists, "in Women, Media, and Politics, ed. Pippa Norris (NY: Oxford University Press, 1997), 21-40.
33. Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland. Strukturen, Arbeitsweisen und Einstellungen im Ost-West-Vergleich, "Publizistik 38 (3, 1993): 353-82; Weaver and Wilhoit, The American Journalist.
34. Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland. Strukturen, Arbeitsweisen und Einstellungen im Ost-West-Vergleich, "Publizistik 38 (3, 1993): 353-82; Weaver and Wilhoit, The American Journalist.
35. Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland."
36. For a broader discussion of power aspects, see Reese, "Setting the Media's Agenda."
37. See Donsbach, "Journalismus versus journalism"; Denis McQuail, Media Performance. Mass Communication and the Public Interest (London: Sage, 1992).
38. See Donsbach, "Journalismus versus journalism"; Denis McQuail, Media Performance. Mass Communication and the Public Interest (London: Sage, 1992).
39. Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Ergebnisse einer Repräsentativbefragung zur Struktur, sozialen Lage und zu den Einstellungen von Journalisten in den neuen Bundesländern, "in Journalismus in den neuen Ländern, ed. Frank Böckelmann, Claudia Mast, and Beate Schneider (Konstanz, Germany: Universitätsverlag Konstanz, 1994), 143-230.
40. Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten im Vergleich: jung, professionell und mit Spaß an der Arbeit" Publizistik 38 (1, 1993): 5-30; for an English summary, see Klaus Schoenbach, Dieter Stuerzebecher, and Beate Schneider, "German Journalists in the Early 1990s: East and West, "in The Global Journalist, ed. Weaver with Wu, 213-27.
41. Beate Schneider, Klaus Schönbach, and Dieter Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten im Vergleich: jung, professionell und mit Spaß an der Arbeit" Publizistik 38 (1, 1993): 5-30; for an English summary, see Klaus Schoenbach, Dieter Stuerzebecher, and Beate Schneider, "German Journalists in the Early 1990s: East and West, "in The Global Journalist, ed. Weaver with Wu, 213-27.
42. While the reliability of this summary scale was not satisfying, the scale was regarded as acceptable for the purpose of this analysis. Given the available survey data, there were only few possible ways of choosing or constructing an appropriate indicator of respondents' political position. The third leftist party, the post-communist PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism) plays a special role in the German party system and was therefore not included in the index. However, two other measures were looked into. First, only the rating of the Social Democrats might be used. Second, a principal component analysis of the ratings of all parties was conducted. One of the factors of the 3-factor solution appeared to measure leftism, the ratings of all three left-wing parties loading highly - and with the same sign - on it. On the other hand, the ratings of the right-wing parties did not load appreciably on this factor, thus making it a bit suspect. The decision which of the three measures to choose did not matter much, however, because the index that was eventually used correlated highly with both the single rating (r =.85) and the PCA factor (r =.91).
43. For the summarizing interpretation of these and the following bivariate results, the overall pattern among the other seven issues from the above list of fourteen issues was also taken into account.
44. However, this seems to be inconsistent with the pattern observed for popular press journalists since private broadcasting journalists, too, might be expected to pay more attention to popular issues.
45. See Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten"; Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland"; Weaver and Wilhoit, The American Journalist.
46. See Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten"; Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland"; Weaver and Wilhoit, The American Journalist.
47. See Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten"; Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland"; Weaver and Wilhoit, The American Journalist.
48. There are indications that, at the beginning of the 1990s, younger German journalists had a rather pragmatic professional orientation; they subscribed less to idealistic motives, and were less interested in communicating their own ideas to the public (see Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten"). The overall trend among all German journalists pointed in a similar direction. Compared with earlier studies, political motivations were somewhat less important in the early 1990s, probably because the diverging values of the fresh cohort of journalists that had entered the profession in the 1980s (see Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten"; Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland").
49. There are indications that, at the beginning of the 1990s, younger German journalists had a rather pragmatic professional orientation; they subscribed less to idealistic motives, and were less interested in communicating their own ideas to the public (see Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten"). The overall trend among all German journalists pointed in a similar direction. Compared with earlier studies, political motivations were somewhat less important in the early 1990s, probably because the diverging values of the fresh cohort of journalists that had entered the profession in the 1980s (see Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten"; Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland").
50. There are indications that, at the beginning of the 1990s, younger German journalists had a rather pragmatic professional orientation; they subscribed less to idealistic motives, and were less interested in communicating their own ideas to the public (see Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten"). The overall trend among all German journalists pointed in a similar direction. Compared with earlier studies, political motivations were somewhat less important in the early 1990s, probably because the diverging values of the fresh cohort of journalists that had entered the profession in the 1980s (see Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Westdeutsche Journalisten"; Schneider, Schönbach, and Stürzebecher, "Journalisten im vereinigten Deutschland").
51. For influences on the media agenda that have been investigated in previous research, see Dearing and Rogers, Agenda-Setting; Reese, "Setting the Media's Agenda."
52. For influences on the media agenda that have been investigated in previous research, see Dearing and Rogers, Agenda-Setting; Reese, "Setting the Media's Agenda."
53. A similar sort of self-selection occurs in news media with a strong political leaning. For example, leftist journalists will seek positions in left-wing or liberal rather than right-wing newspapers.
54. Weaver and Wilhoit, The American Journalist.
55. This is related to the discussion in the agenda-setting literature about the limited usefulness of studying issues in the sense of topics, free of content or controversy. See Lee B. Becker, "Reflecting on Metaphors, "in Communication Yearbook 14, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), 341-46; Gerald M. Kosicki, "Problems and Opportunities in Agenda-Setting Research, "Journal of Communication 43 (spring 1993): 100-127; D. Charles Whitney, "Agenda-Setting: Power and Contingency, "in Communication Yearbook 14, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), 347-56.
56. This is related to the discussion in the agenda-setting literature about the limited usefulness of studying issues in the sense of topics, free of content or controversy. See Lee B. Becker, "Reflecting on Metaphors, "in Communication Yearbook 14, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), 341-46; Gerald M. Kosicki, "Problems and Opportunities in Agenda-Setting Research, "Journal of Communication 43 (spring 1993): 100-127; D. Charles Whitney, "Agenda-Setting: Power and Contingency, "in Communication Yearbook 14, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), 347-56.
57. This is related to the discussion in the agenda-setting literature about the limited usefulness of studying issues in the sense of topics, free of content or controversy. See Lee B. Becker, "Reflecting on Metaphors, "in Communication Yearbook 14, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), 341-46; Gerald M. Kosicki, "Problems and Opportunities in Agenda-Setting Research, "Journal of Communication 43 (spring 1993): 100-127; D. Charles Whitney, "Agenda-Setting: Power and Contingency, "in Communication Yearbook 14, ed. James A. Anderson (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), 347-56.
58. Becker, "Reflecting on Metaphors"; Reese, "Setting the Media's Agenda."
59. Becker, "Reflecting on Metaphors"; Reese, "Setting the Media's Agenda."