Agenda-Setting Effects Related International Political Leadership Coverage on U.S. Media Coverage and Their Presidential Approval

• In Event: Political Engagement and Agenda Setting in a New Media Ecosystem

Abstract

Following second level of agenda-setting theory this paper examines the relation between the presidential approval, as a popularity measure, and media coverage in the context of international news flow. Based on three national public opinion pools from 19 international political leaders, we examined the effect of U.S. media coverage on the evolution of those leaders presidential approval. Contrary to what we expected, significant results showed that the more negative U.S. media coverage an international leader received, as a kind of reaction effect, the higher approval he/she scores in his own country, pointing to a reverse Agenda Setting effect in this specific context. Both, event-oriented variables and also contextual factors explained why some of the international leaders received more negative coverage than others.

Author

• ROCIO ZAMORA, UNIVERSITY OF MURCIA