Running Head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY SOCIOCULTURAL TRADITION

COMM 601: Communication Fluency

Sociocultural Tradition in the Media: An Annotated Bibliography
Felix Duchampt
Queens University of Charlotte
duchamptf@queens.edu

COMM 601: Communication Fluency

Dr. Nathaniel
Submitted: November 18, 2013

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Bareviit, J. (2010). The locality of the global village in the aspect of communication:
pro and contra M. McLuhan. Limes, 3(2), 184-194. doi:10.3846/limes.2010.18.
The first part of the article talks about the rise of electric and electronic media. Also,
the notion of global village is mentioned, which belongs to Marshall McLuhan. The reader
learns that the global village most likely came to the world before McLuhan, from people
such as the French philosopher Pierre de Chardin, English writer Whindham Lewis, and Irish
poet Jayme Joyce. They all have significant works with connections to the global village. The
new technologies described in the article emphasize how millions of people continue to
interact with each other, without constraints of time or space. This notion creates virtual
lives, as well as new forms of proximity, intimacy and community (Bareviit, 2010). The
transmission of information is distinctive, signifying how the medium is truly not the same in
many communicative situations that we as human beings face everyday.
However, in the second part of the article, the author shows how contradictory the
notion of global village can really be. Can a village really be global? When defining the
term village, several notions come to mind. These include terms such as community, family,
collectivity or familiarity. People of a same village know each other exceptionally well,
including everything that goes in and out of the village. Interestingly enough, anyone who
does not live in the village or does not know about its culture is considered a stranger.
Nevertheless, in McLuhan's understanding of a global village, there are a multitude of
cultures, units, and trends that need to be understood. When using the Internet, there are
people arriving and leaving several outlets of communication everyday. In spite of this,
people still remain faithful to their geographic areas and cultures in some way, making it
pretty much impossible to create a real global village for the entire world to follow.
According to the author, the term city would be more appropriate connection in regards with
people from different cultures, races, opinions, and lifestyles that live together in big cities,

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which is not the case in villages.
This source is really helpful to both understand and criticize the notion of the global
village. Its the first article that I have found that actually does not agree with the term global
village. It seems like other authors just talk about it as if it was a fact. Honestly, it has been
the way I have treated this notion until now. We see that the author is quite biased and does
not accept it. He would rather call it the global city. I agree with this point of view, as a city
can be much more global than a village in some sense. Inhabitants of villages are so close to
each other, signifying how the world can never become like that even with new technologies
within our society today. However, city is a more appropriate term because it is a small
representation of what the Internet does every day to the entire world. Also, the term global
village appears to be an oxymoron, a figure of style linking together two contradictory words.
If that is how McLuhan conceptualizes it, and although it is internally contradictory, it
becomes a lot deeper than a simple comparison between a village and the globalization of the
world.
Calder, M. J., Richter, S., Burns, K., & Yuping, M. (2011). Framing homelessness for the
Canadian public: the news media and homelessness. Canadian Journal of Urban
Research, 20(2), 1-19.
This article illustrates the feeling of homelessness in Canada and how the media see,
define, and influence by the concept of framing people's values and ideas about the topic.
Homelessness is known for being a type of poverty that includes the person not
living in a specific house for a given period of time (Calder, Richter, Burns & Yuping,
2011). Since Western media usually deal with large-scale issues that are close to home,
relevant, negative, and have a defined meaning, homelessness is a topic that continues to be
covered thoroughly in the news. People shape their opinions about homelessness with what
they see, allowing the media to affect their ideas about homelessness, while two sub-

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categories of people can be differentiated: the ones who are influenced by the media without
notifying it, and the ones who use the media deliberately to know what issues are important
and how to think about them.
Goffman defines frames as mental constructs individuals use to organize and make
sense of their experiences. For example, different types of frames are defined to describe
what the actual term of homelessness means. Thematic frames focus attention on social issues
and large events, while episodic frames focus on individuals.
Sympathetic frames are seen as pleasant and potentially helping the issues studied,
while unsympathetic frames are negative for the topic, showing homeless people generally as
criminals. This closely relates to deviance frames, which also create a negative stigma for the
homeless. The news media usually tells the public of what they have done wrong, since we
usually do not notice when they do right. They are also seen as using drugs, being tested
positive for diseases such as HIV and AIDS, creating and reinforcing boundaries between
us and them.
Similarly, conflict frames oppose two categories of people. In this case, it is usually
people supporting homelessness against people wanting a clear separation between them and
the homelessness. Dependence frames show our society how the homeless need the help of
social organizations to keep living and to gain access to as many opportunities as possible.
Attribution frames place homelessness as a cause or a treatment of some kind of specific
issue. Seasonal frames report stories about homelessness that usually follow around the time
of Thanksgiving and Christmas, as these are the times during the year where people more
charitable. Finally, solution frames are when the news media reports different occasions of
when the homeless are helped, such as providing them food and shelter.
This study is relevant because it gives readers an in-depth analysis of what the concept
of framing really means. The authors seem quite objective when exploring the concept of

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framing, making it a successful observation in my opinion. Reading this article feels
effortless; it explores only one topic but in a deeper sense. Moreover, the use of homelessness
as an example through the entire article helps to understand the different aspects of framing.
Sometimes, just having theories or definitions is not enough for me to understand concepts.
Maybe the barrier of language makes it harder, but examples and real life cases are extremely
beneficial.
Cullen, M. R., Ogley-Oliver, E., Carton, A. D., & Street, J. C. (2010). Media framing of
proposed nuclear reactors: An analysis of print media. Journal of Community &
Applied Social Psychology, 20(6), 497-512. doi:10.1002/casp.1056
Researchers in this study look at how two newspaper companies framed the social
issue of nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is a recent hot topic, with people debating on whether
it is good or not for the environment. Research took place in Georgia, where the company,
Southern Nuclear, emitted the idea of implementations for two new reactors in Plant Vogtle.
To understand how the media framed the topic, two newspapers were analyzed during the
same period, from 2006 until 2008. They included the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the
Augusta Chronicle. The researchers gathered samples of 39 articles published in the AJC and
43 published in the AC. The articles were then divided into three categories: news articles,
letters to editors, and official editorials.
Researchers first identified texts that contain pro-nuclear, anti-nuclear, or
informational aspects within the articles. Then, they created sub-themes to understand the
arguments of each side. Finally, articles were coded as an entity to whether they were pronuclear, anti-nuclear, or balanced. The results showed that both AJC and the AC had balanced
articles. However, editorial pieces and letters to the editor were all pro-nuclear in the AC,
while they were balanced in the AJC.
Six pro-nuclear subthemes were identified: economic benefits, environmental

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benefits, stakeholder support, energy demand, reliability, and illegitimate opposition. Overall,
the study helps us understand how the AC talked a lot more about these benefits than the AJC
did.
Four anti-nuclear subthemes were also indentified: environmental risks, economic
risks, the need for alternative energy, and safety risks. Although the AC talked several times
about environmental risks, these newspapers barely mentioned anything about the other
harmful possibilities nuclear energy. Unlike the AC, the AJC was more balanced and had an
equal number of pro and anti-nuclear arguments.
Eight informational subthemes were established: regulatory permit access, reactor
financing, opposition to reactors, Vogtle/nuclear energy information, nuclear resurgence,
economic impact, support for reactor, and energy demand. The AJC had more information
about these neutral subthemes than the AC newspaper company.
According to these results, one can think that the AC appears to be biased and pronuclear. It wants to shape local governments and institutions so new reactors will be
implemented. However, we have no idea if the AC's editorial staff decided not to publish
articles with anti-nuclear ideals in mind, or if there were simply none. Also, the information is
seen as neutral or factual are in fact rather in favor of nuclear energy according to the author.
Despite their ideas about the topic, they notice that it was a good idea to code some parts as
informational instead of just for and against to fully consider how media present texts.
Moreover, the authors of the article also define themselves as anti-nuclear at the beginning,
so we can also believe that they are biased when defining the categories and could see some
things as more neutral then others. Nonetheless, it is a great study that emphasizes the
importance of framing. While some other researches focus on similar topics for the exact
same issue, the reports are still different in the way they are interpreted. Media, according to
what producers think about an issue, tell the story in a way that is the easiest for the audience

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to understand.
Evans, M. (2010). Framing international conflicts: Media coverage of fighting in the Middle
East. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 6(2), 209-233.
doi:10.1386/mcp.6.2.209_1
This research is a comparative study that focuses on the framing of two different
conflicts in the Middle East. Framing is analyzed through two New York Times overages, one
in the town of Jenin, Israel, and the other in the city of Nahr al-Bared, in Lebanon. Readers of
elite newspapers may think they get the most honest and informative information about the
world from what they read. However, in this research, we see that media can be very
powerful and orient the readers to think of what they want. Newspapers emphasize certain
aspects or themes of a story, shaping the readers overall opinion by the conclusion of the
coverage.
Although two different wars cannot be exactly be the same, the two examples of the
study seem very similar in comparison. Jenin was the place of a conflict between Israel and
Palestine in 2002. The conflict lasted twelve days and 75 people perished. Moreover,
authorities displaced 3000 civilians. In the war in Nahr al-Bared, in 2007, 500 people died
and 30,000 people were displaced over a period of 107 days. However, 36 articles with an
average of 1192 words were written in the New York Times on the conflict in Jenin, while
only 21 articles with an average of 760 words were written on the conflict in Nahr el-Barad.
This qualitative comparison proved that the New York Times gave more importance to the
conflict in Jenin, giving the readers three longer articles a day about the topic, than the one in
Nahr el-Bared, with an average of one shorter article every five days.
During that time, the researchers went further away in their comparison using a
qualitative method. Five main categories were used to analyze the articles:
characterization of the army besieging the camp,

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characterization of the fighters inside the camp,
effect of fighting on the civilian residents of the camp,
reporting of damage caused by the fighting,
analysis of the effectiveness and utility of the armies operation.
In the category characterization of the army besieging the camp, the fighters in
Jenin seem to have advanced weapons and be very violent, as the newspapers uses words
such as tanks, helicopters, bulldozers, cannons and missiles. Unlike Jenin, the description of
the conflict in Lebanon tells the readers few things about weapons being used, and shows the
unity of the army fighting as a whole.
In the category fighters inside the camps, the Palestinian militants in the conflict in
Israel are framed as being weak. They do not have the same weapons as Israel, although they
could be the ones attacking. One side seems strong (Israel) and the other side weak
(Palestine). The conflict should never have taken place, since one side has such an advantage
over the other. However, in Nahr el-Bared, the two armies are described equally and seem to
have the same strengths and weaknesses.
In the category civilian residents of camp, the reporters for the conflict in Jenin use
proximity. They describe quite often how the civilians suffer from the war. However, in the
Lebanon conflict, the reporters dont talk about civilians that often. Also, when they do, they
use more signs of empathy, despite the fact that a lot more civilians perished and were
severely wounded in Lebanon than in Israel.
It goes the same way for the category damage caused by the fighting. The battle in
Jenin is described as destructive when looking at what happened to buildings, houses, roads,
and infrastructures. However, the conflict in Nahr el-Bared is more distant to damages.
Although 30,000 homes were destroyed, few lines in the articles talk about the totality of the
destruction that actually occurred.

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In this study, the main difference that is shown is the fact that the conflict in Jenin was
covered by veteran New York Times correspondents, while the conflict is Nahr el-Beret was
covered by local journalists being culturally different that used to being around conflicts in
the Middle East. The more distant a nation is culturally, the greater the tendency to
stereotype and reduce complexity occurs (Evans, 2013). Moreover, journalists in Jenin
stayed in the luxurious Mediterranean city of Tel-Aviv at night, contrasting even more with
the poor atmosphere of the conflict. Finally, business pressures can also affect framing, as
journalists need juicy stories to attract more audience members.
Kiousis, S. (2011). Agenda-setting and attitudes. Journalism Studies, 12(3), 359-374.
doi:10.1080/1461670X.2010.501149
Researcher Kiousis presented this study by showing how the relationships between
media agenda setting and salience of presidential candidates, public salience of these
candidates, and public attitude increased towards these candidates. The method for his
research combined a content analysis of media coverage with public opinion measures. In
order to collect data, Kiousis focused on six US presidential elections (1984, 1988, 1992,
1996, 2000 and 2004). His media content analysis included two newspapers and two
magazines. He used keywords President followed by the last name of the candidates to
gather information, and ended up with 32,244 stories to analyze. Later in the process, name
recognition was employed in public opinion measures, with attitude dispersion (non neutral
attitudes) and attitude polarization (yes or no attitude).
Kiousis defined three hypotheses and a research question. The first hypothesis
explained media salience of presidential candidates will be positively correlated with their
public salience, the proportion of the public who recognize these public figures. The
findings supported this hypothesis. Three out of the four media studies had significant results,
while the other was very close, with a media correlation value of 0.55. Thus, we can say that

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media salience affects public salience in the long term. The second hypothesis stated that
media salience of presidential candidates will be positively correlated with the proportion of
the public who hold non-neutral (dispersed) attitudes about these public figures. Again, the
hypothesis was supported in three of the four cases, with a median value of 0.54. It can be
said that media salience of the candidates affects the population by making them having
opinions. The third hypothesis stated that media salience of presidential candidates will be
positively correlated with the proportion of the public who hold extreme (polarized positive
and negative) attitudes about those public figures. The hypothesis was supported in all four
cases, proving that media salience helps people hold strong beliefs towards candidates in
general.
The research question was what sequence of influence will best explain the
relationships among media salience, public salience, and attitude strength regarding
presidential candidates? It turned out that media salience prompts increases in attitude
strength, which subsequently translates into elevated public salience regarding presidential
candidates.
The study made me realize how the media helps to build strong opinions, but not
necessarily the same opinions for everyone. Usually when a hypothesis was not supported, it
was in a magazine rather than a newspapers, which can be explained by the fact that by the
smaller volume and more specific contents of magazines. The authors were probably not
biased in most cases though. However, future researches should include other media such as
television, radio or online news. Moreover, in most of the examples I have found for the
annotated bibliography, researchers tested agenda setting and attitude strength in political
elections. Finally, the author said that the time frame of the study does not allow any kinds of
generalization because it was too short. However, again, from all the studies that I have
found, I feel like 32,244 stories and six US elections over 20 years is a long time frame.

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Minglian, H. (2011). The appeal of Marshall McLuhan in contemporary China. Canadian
Social Science, 7(3), 1-6. doi:10.3968/j.css.1923669720110703.001
This article explores the reasons of why Marshall McLuhan is seen as such an
important person in China. According to the author, six elements have made McLuhan
indispensable for the past few years in China that will be further explained.
First of all, the use of the Internet by the Chinese population has increased drastically
in the 21st century. In 2011, 457 millions of Chinese used Internet, which is more than a third
of the population of the country. Many rural places will have access to the Internet before
2015. Thus, McLuhan and his theories about how media affect the population are very
interesting to analyze.
The second element is that Chinese people using the Internet can know what happen outside
of their country. As the notion of global village suggests, people from China can access news
from all over the world. Even though few social media sites such as Twitter or Face book are
not allowed in China. They can watch movies made outside of China or Skype with their
foreigner friends. Then, the new media have a huge impact on Chinese lives. Although they
live in a country where the government tries to control everything, they can still access
information about their country and the world on non-Chinese media tools. They can have a
new opinion on some people and topics. Media change the people and how the Chinese
understand the environment. The fourth reason is McLuhan's highly theoretical style of
writing. McLuhan is seen as courageous in China because of his ideas of invading and
criticizing the media. Chinese academic scholars can hide behind him and expand their
knowledge to write new articles and convey different ideas.
Another element in McLuhan's concepts is hot medium and cold medium. A hot
medium, according to McLuhan, offers clear, bright and high-definitive information. This
means the audience does not mean a lot of imagination or work to understand the content.

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However, a cold medium is more fuzzy, easy, comfortable and low-definitive information.
The message here is not clear and can be understood in many different ways. These notions
have been understood, resulting in the Chinese media to progressively make more cold
programs.
Finally, McLuhan has become known by everyone in the communication field in
China due to his deep influence in the country. His researches on relationships between media
and audiences as his general understanding of the media have inspired the Chinese scholars,
in a country where everything has been under censorship for decades.
This research helps us to understand how media has worked on other side of the
world. Although the culture in China is a lot different than the one in the US or in Western
Europe, McLuhan is still an important figure to realize. This source is the only one talking
about the global village from another culture's point of view, thus being useful to expand our
knowledge about the topic and how people across the world define and use it. It also shows
how China is behind many other countries in the world in understanding media.
Mucundorfeanu, M., & Vana, D. (2012). Agenda-setting, framing, priming: Media effect
analysis in Romania. Review of Management & Economic Engineering, 11(2), 189200.
This study held in Romania aims to verify that media, through theories such as agenda
setting, framing and priming, play an increasing role on public opinion. The article starts with
definitions and explanations of these three terms that are closely related and different from
one another.
Agenda setting means there is a correlation between the emphasis that mass media
place on certain issues and the importance attributed to these issues by audiences. Basically,
mass media get to choose, order, and present issues the way they want. This point emphasizes
how mass media define priorities. Framing is slightly different than agenda setting. By

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framing, media highlights certain attributes or aspects of a topic, outlining its image.
Because of framing, media can influence how the audience thinks about the topic they
present. Different ways of presenting the same topic will result in different understanding
from the audience. As a basic claim in the process of framing, it is said that no one is able to
understand the world in all its complexity. In consequence, humans refer to their own
experience when trying to understand about a topic happening in the world. Priming is what
to think about when evaluating an issue. People do not search for new topics or information,
but rather make their opinions with existing ones in the media. Thus, the media greatly
influence audiences with the process of priming.
The researchers created a questionnaire and distributed it to 76 people, four weeks in
a row from mid-December to mid-January, making it a total of 304 questionnaires. While the
number of men and women was equal, two sub categories were created: adults from 40 to 55
years old and younger ones from 19 to 25 years old. The questions were based on how
important specific issues were when people talked about them each week.
Researchers concluded that information was given by the media in a neutral way
most of the time. Also, the researchers compared the main issues told by the media to the
issues in the peoples minds. People from 19 to 25 years old mainly used the Internet to
gather information, while people from 40 to 55 years old preferred television. However, both
groups said that they did not trust the media. To find out what were the most important events
during each one of these weeks, the researchers used a content analysis. During the first two
weeks of the study, the main topics of the people questioned were personal information, such
as vacations, skiing, Christmas, traditions, or New Years Eve. However, during the third and
fourth week of the study, the main topics were not personal anymore, but rather the ones
which could be seen or heard in the news, such as the crisis, the increased fuel prices, or the
protests happening in several cities of the country. This confirms the agenda setting theory

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effect.
In the study, we learn that there are several times of the year when personal issues are
more important than anything and bring people together, mainly because of the culture of the
place studied. However, most of the time, issues that people talk about are the ones given in
the media. People have conversations with friends about what comes from the media.
Moreover, people attach a bigger importance to topics that come first or are highlighted,
showing the importance of the media and their ways to deliver information. It confirms the
agenda setting theory effects. The concept of priming is also verified here. While people tend
to say that they have low confidence in media, they still accept what is being said, adopt their
point of view without paying attention, and do not get information from other sources. This
study is also very relevant. It is the first article of my annotated bibliography and helps me
understand differences between three close concepts: agenda setting, framing and priming. It
is also interesting to see that sometimes the media dictates what people know about, while at
some other times, strong cultural events take over control.
However, I notice some drawbacks within the study. The time frame of the study is
short. Moreover, I think future research should have a different sample. Categories in this
study are very narrow. Thus, future research may last longer and use various categories of
people, so conclusions can be applicable to a broader population.
Mulligan, K., & Habel, P. (2011). An experimental test of the effects of fictional framing on
attitudes. Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 92(1), 79-99.
doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2011.00758.x
In the study, researchers Mulligan and Habel try to show the effect of framing in
fictional media. To make sure the study is understood, defining framing and fictional media
appears necessary. In the research, framing is the process by which a source defines the
essential problem underlying a particular social or political issue, and outlines a set of

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considerations purportedly relevant to that issue (Nelson, Oxley & Clawson, 1997).
Fictional media are counterfactual works of imagination, usually involving characters who
interact with each other in a suspenseful, comedic, or otherwise entertaining plot (Mulligan
& Habel, 2011).
The study talks about the movie Cider House Rules. Two instances of framing are
identified in the movie: an abortion frame and a morality frame. Dr. Larch lives in Maine
during World War II and practices abortion, even though, at this time in the US, it is not really
accepted as the right thing to do. Homer has always followed Dr. Larch's steps and wants to
become a doctor. However, he sees abortion as wrong and refuses to agree with the practice.
During the movie, a couple comes to see Dr. Larch, so the woman can have an abortion. They
meet Homer and offer him a job close to their farm. Homer accepts the offer, and once at the
farm, runs into the Rose family. The daughter is pregnant by her father. Homer, although
against abortion, agrees to perform it. Here, the movie directors want viewers to understand
that they should follow their own conscience rather than imposed moral code.
The sample was composed of 194 students in a Midwest university. Participants were
assigned either to the treatment or control group. In the treatment group, students watched the
movie and then filled out a questionnaire. Also, half of them knew they had a quiz after the
movie (also referred as high elaboration group), while the other half did not know (referred as
the low elaboration group). Researchers wanted to see if people were less influenced by
framing. In the control group, participants just filled out the questionnaire.
A likert scale was used for the results, zero being totally disagreed and one being
totally agreed. We learned that students who watched the movie were more favorable towards
abortion by incest than students in the control group (0.93 against 0.76). However, towards
general abortion, the difference was not significant. 0.51 of the students who watched the
movie were favorable, while 0.54 of the control group wasnt. Moreover, the difference

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between students who watched the movie and were told about the quiz and the ones who just
thought they had to watch the movie surprised the researchers, as the results were similar in
both questions (0.93 and 0.92 for abortion by incest, 0.56 and 0.54 for general abortion).
Now, to the statement: People should always follow their own conscience, even if the
result is doing something illegal, the value was 0.58 for the ones who watched the movie,
and 0.47 for the ones who did not. However, again, the results were similar for the ones who
were told about the quiz and the others ones (0.58 and 0.59).
According to the results, fictional framing worked. More people were pro-abortion
and agreed to follow their own conscience in the group who watched the movie than in the
control group. Thus, framing influences the viewers opinions. However, there was no
difference between people watching the movie carefully and the ones watching the movie as
entertainment. The study failed to differentiate these two groups of people, as we can see in
the discussion that nine out of ten students in both groups were able to answer general
questions about the movie after watching it. Several arguments supporting the facts can be
taken into account for future reference. First of all, watching a movie about important issues
is more active than passive if you want to understand the meaning of the film. Moreover, if
the movie entertains or interests the viewer, then they are more focused in the long run.
Finally, students watched the movie in the laboratory, which is seen as being part of a
scientific environment, making them more attentive.
The study was very relevant because it proves that people can be influenced from both
fictional and non-fictional events. People do not really have a clear distinction between real
life and fictional movies, which makes movie producers powerful when choosing specific
topics and issues.
Valcanis, T. (2011). An iPhone in every hand: Media ecology, communication structures and
the global village. A Review of General Semantics, 68(1), 33-45.

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This article talks about the new media culture and the impact it has on the population
within the United States. New media technology has become so important for us that it
actually modifies our culture every day. The first electric method invented was the telegraph.
Then, telephones fax machines, televisions, and radios arrived. Nowadays, computer
mediated communication (CMC) is having a huge impact on our cultures. Society has to live
with it. It is part of our daily lives. In the past, information was written on papers and
transmitted through horses. Now, Internet accomplishes everything we need in a given day.
Researchers refer to media ecology as the impacts and effects of new media
technology on people and their environments. The medium enabling a network society is the
Internet, which can access almost everything from almost anywhere in the world. This
emphasizes how there is no notion of time and space anymore. It is possible to write, publish,
edit, read, and capture images from anywhere in the world at anytime. According to Valganis,
in 2011, globalization is an inevitable element that is part of our lives. We cannot stop it
anymore than we can stop the waves from crashing on the shore (Valcanis, 2011).
Before the rise of the new media, there used to be two sides to the issue: media
producers and media consumers. Not everybody could talk on the radio or share news on the
television. Now, almost everyone is a participant and can be producer and consumer at the
same time. Social media and Facebook are great examples; Facebook has 500 million users.
It also helps people to maintain relationships, pass free time, be entertained, and most
importantly, feel part of an online community. Smartphones can be described as even being
more useful than computers because they are miniatures and follow a person everywhere at
any time. Moreover, they have apps, which replace older devices, such as a GPS or watch.
This source was very useful to understand the use of new media culture and all the
terms related to it. We live in a culture shaped by the Internet, where the medium is the
meaning. It is important to recognize that Internet shapes, organizes, and distributes ideas all

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over the world. It feels like human beings are not arranged into countries or cultures
anymore, but rather into networks through the Internet. The research also made me think of
my own personal life in some sense. Without the use of the Internet, I would have certainly
never come to the US, or at least not as a student. Information about scholarships was
available online. Moreover, it made me think of how it shapes people and institutions. Even
the masters degree at Queens University of Charlotte has evolved to become more focused
on the use of social media and CMC.
Wu, H., & Coleman, R. (2009). Advancing agenda-setting theory: The comparative strength
and new contingent conditions of the two levels of agenda-setting effects. Journalism
& Mass Communication Quarterly, 86(4), 775-789.
The study presented by researchers Wu and Coleman is a comparison between the two
levels of agenda-setting effects. They use the 2004 presidential elections as a topic for
research. Agenda-setting is the phenomenon of the mass media selecting certain issues and
portraying them frequently and prominently, which leads people to perceive those issues as
more important than others (Wu & Coleman, 2009). The first level of agenda setting focuses
on how much an issue is covered by the media. However, the second level of agenda setting
focuses on the characteristics and attributes of the people and things described by the media.
Thus, the hierarchy of effects theory concerns three elements: knowledge, attitudes, and
behavior (Wu & Coleman, 2009). Part of the study involves researchers finding out what has
the strongest effect: knowledge about issues or feelings about attitudes. The behavior will be
evaluated through voting intentions. Finally, researchers will try to evaluate whether it is
positive or negative attributes that have to most impact on people's perceptions.
The study had two parts: a content analysis, followed by a public opinion survey. The
sample for the content analysis was made of two newspapers, three networks, and two major
cable channels. Researchers focused on the story told about two Presidential candidates: Bush

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and Kerry in these media. The public opinion survey was made through random digit dialing,
involving 615 people. 63% were females and 74% white, with average incomes.
The researchers defined five hypotheses before they conducted the study. Hypothesis
one stated that the prominent issues portrayed in the media are significantly correlated with
the issues people consider of high importance. This hypothesis, which revealed the effect of
the first level of agenda setting, was supported.
The second hypothesis stated that both Kerry and Bush were portrayed in the media as
being significantly correlated to people's perceptions. The findings were positive and
significant only for Kerry though. Bush's traits portrayed in the media were not necessarily
how people saw him.
The third hypothesis affirmed that the second level of attribute agenda setting would
be stronger than the first level. Again, the hypothesis was supported for Kerry. However, the
second level of agenda setting did not apply to Bush. Thus, the third hypothesis was not
supported in Bush's case.
The fourth hypothesis stated that both first and second levels of perceived agendas
would significantly be correlated with people's voting intentions. The hypothesis was
supported for both candidates and levels of agenda setting. Finally, researchers with negative
traits of candidates portrayed in the media were more strongly correlated with people's
perceptions than with positive traits in the fifth hypothesis. Again, this statement was
supported in Kerry's case, not for Bush.
Researchers helped us realize a valuable point to focus on. According to them, the fact
that more hypotheses were supported in Kerry's case was driven by the need for
orientation. In 2004, Bush was already known nationally. He had also been judged on
several important events in the past, such as 9/11, so people didnt need the media to make
valid opinions on him. However, Kerry was not known at this point, outside of his state,

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Massachusetts. However, the study was conducted in a southern state. People needed to get to
know him better. Obviously, it was not possible to meet him in person. Thus, the media was
the only way for the population to have information about him. The Media was able to
influence people's perceptions. The need for orientation should then be addressed in future
research studies. The study also focused on two levels of agenda setting, which has not been
done much in the past. Also, studies on non-political events should be conducted to see if the
findings here applied to other topics.
Finally, in my opinion, the fact that negative attributes influenced more than positive
attributes was due to the fact that positive characteristics are sometimes seen as normal. This
was a fascinating study that I hope gets more recognition in the future.