Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media
2017
Intermedia agenda setting predicts a high degree of convergence between news media agendas. However, the rise of social media forces a re-examination of this expectation. Using the 8.8-earthquake of February 27, 2010 in Chile as a case study, this article compares which topics were covered by professional journalists on broadcast news and Twitter, analyzing both cross-sectional and longitudinal trends. A positive, reinforcing influence was found among the journalistic agendas of TV and Twitter. However, counter to the idea that social media are echo chambers of traditional media, it was found that Twitter influences TV news more so than the other way around. Thus, the study provides an early lens into the agenda setting function of social media among television news professionals, and its findings are consistent with Twitter succeeding among journalists due to its provision of valuable information.
Sebastián Valenzuela (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is an associate professor in the School of Communications at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and associate researcher at the National Research Center for Integrated Natural Disaster Management (CIGIDEN). His research interests include political communication, social media, and journalism.
Soledad Puente (Ph.D., Universidad de Navarra), is a professor in the in the School of Communications at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and associate researcher at the National Research Center for Integrated Natural Disaster Management (CIGIDEN). Her research focuses on broadcast journalism, speech communication, and journalism during emergencies.
Pablo M. Flores (Licenciate, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) is an adjunct assistant professor in School of Communications at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and research assistant at the National Research Center for Integrated Natural Disaster Management (CIGIDEN). His research focuses on a multi-disciplinary approach to media coverage on disasters, social media, social networks, and complex analysis.
