Intermedia Agenda-Setting and Political Activism: MoveOn.org and the 2008 Presidential Election |
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| Authors: | Matthew W Ragas Spiro Kiousis |
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| Institution: | 1. College of Communication , DePaul University mragas@depaul.edu;3. Department of Public Relations , University of Florida |
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| Abstract: | This study tested for intermedia agenda-setting effects among explicitly partisan news media coverage and political activist group, citizen activist, and official campaign advertisements on YouTube—all in support of the same candidate. The setting for this investigation was the political activist organization MoveOn.org's “Obama in 30 Seconds” online ad contest, which was held during the 2008 U.S. presidential election primaries. The data provided evidence of first- and second-level agenda-setting relationships. Partial correlations revealed that the citizen activist issue agenda, as articulated in the contest ads, was most strongly related to the partisan media coverage, rather than to the issue priorities of the official Obama or MoveOn.org ads on YouTube. These results extend the intermedia agenda-setting framework to political activist communication efforts and consumer-generated content. |
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