What’s political Twitter talking about?
Setting the media agenda for the 2016 presidential debates among influential left, center, and right political
media
This study explicates the concept of news media agendamelding. While only one-quarter of U.S. adults are on Twitter, it remains a
popular platform among news media and political elites who often still set the public agenda for political discourse. Twitter
provides insights into the issues that are at the top of the media and policy agendas, as well as how social media might influence
the way journalists approach political issues. At the same time, there is concern about the influence of social media on political
polarization. This study uses a specific set of influential Twitter users to examine one main question: Were there differences
between right, left, and center political media reactions during the 2016 presidential debates? This study provides further
evidence that there is, in fact, a conservative political Twitter media agenda that exists separately from liberal or nonpartisan
media outlets.
Article outline
- Literature review
- Political Twitter and agenda-setting research
- Twitter and journalists
- Twitter and presidential debates
- Media agendas on Twitter
- Agendamelding
- Political polarization and Twitter
- Research questions
- Method
- Data analysis
- Results
- Discussion and conclusion
- Limitations and future research
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References