TIME-LAG DIFFERENCES IN THE AGENDA-SETTING PROCESS - AN EXAMINATION OF 5 NEWS MEDIA

Five news media in the U.S. were examined to determine the optimal tim e-lag for agenda-setting effects to occur for each. Public responses t o an open-ended question 'What is the number one problem facing our co untry today?' were compared to media coverage from one to 26 weeks ear lier. A number of differences were found across the five media. The re sults show that television coverage had a shorter optimal time-lag tha n newspapers. The more immediate effect of television news, however, q uickly deteriorated, and newspapers had a stronger long-term agenda-se tting effect. National and regional media also had a more immediate im pact than local media. All media, generally, had slightly shorter opti mal time-lags than previous research would suggest.