Shaping the Agenda of Local Daily Newspapers: A Methodology Merging the Agenda Setting and Community Structure Perspectives

Abstract

Community structure research investigates the influence of the local community and specific demographic groups in the community on the degree of emphasis that particular public issues receive in a local newspaper. In contrast to this internal source of influence, intermedia agenda setting emphasizes the external influence of other news media and the national journalistic culture on the news decisions of local daily newspapers. To invoke a cliché, the agenda-setting and community structure perspectives are opposite sides of the same coin and should be considered in tandem. The research design and procedure for statistical analysis presented here, which involves the simultaneous investigation of the influence resulting from community structure and intermedia agenda setting, is a path for new research that can present a detailed explication of the balance between local and national influence on the issue agenda of local daily newspapers.