Media agenda setting and elections: Voter involvement or alienation?

Abstract

The article briefly reviews media agenda‐setting research findings from the past quarter century as well as findings from recent studies of the role of the “new” or nontraditional media in the 1992 U.S. presidential election. It is argued that past dominance of campaign agendas by politicians and the media is related to voter alienation, whereas evidence from the 1992 election of more grassroots agenda setting, with the help of nontraditional media such as television talk shows and town hall meetings, is coupled with evidence of greater voter interest and involvement in that election. Although the “new” media are not likely to solve all the problems of citizen alienation from politics and political manipulation of public and press, they do offer the possibility of more citizen involvement in elections and in politics more generally.