Agenda-setting Role Research Articles

Understanding Director Elections: Determinants and Consequences

We examine the determinants and consequences of voting outcomes in uncontested director elections. Exploiting a unique hand-collected dataset of the rationale behind proxy advisors’ recommendations — the primary driver of voting outcomes —, we document the director and board characteristics that voting shareholders focus on (as well as those that they neglect), their evolution over time and their relative importance. Absent a negative recommendation, high votes withheld are infrequent, highlighting the agenda setting role of proxy advisors. While high votes withheld rarely result in director turnover, our analyses show that firms often respond to an adverse vote by explicitly addressing the underlying concern. Overall, it appears that shareholders use their votes in uncontested director elections to get directors to address specific problems, rather than to vote them on or off the board, but they do so only on matters highlighted by the proxy advisors.

Coverage of Women’s Issues by Urdu and English Press: A Comparative Analysis

We are living in a mediated world where every aspect of human life is getting affected by images of media. Consciously or unconsciously, knowingly or unknowingly our attitudes, values and belief systems are getting increasingly influenced by media. Some media critics expressed serious concern over the influence of the media in our everyday life. In the contemporary media saturated world, the agenda of the media becoming the public agenda. It is in this context, the news media play an important role in shaping public opinion and creating consciousness on different issues. Keeping in view of the importance of the news media in the contemporary society, the paper makes an attempt to ascertain the agenda setting role of the press towards women’s issues. For the purpose two mainstream dailies- one from the English and the other from the Urdu language newspapers purposively taken and their contents related to women’s issues have been subjected to detailed analysis.

How Health in All Policies are developed and implemented in a developing country? A case study of a HiAP initiative in Iran.

Population health is influenced by many factors beyond the control of health system which should be addressed by other sectors through inter-sectoral collaboration (ISC). Countries have adopted diverse initiatives to operationalize ISC for health such as establishment of Councils of Health and Food Security (CHFSs) and development of provincial Health Master Plans (HMPs) in Iran. The literature, however, provides meager information on how these initiatives have been moved into the top policy agenda, how and by whom they have been formulated and what factors enable or inhibit their implementation. In addressing these knowledge gaps, we employed a qualitative case study approach, incorporating mixed methods: in-depth interviews and a textual analysis of policy documents. Iran founded the Supreme Council of Health and Food Security (SCHFS) at national level in 2006 followed by provincial and district CHFSs to ensure political commitment to ISC for health and Health in All Policies (HiAPs). In 2009, the SCHFS mandated all provincial CHFSs across the country to develop provincial HMP to operationalize the HiAP approach and Kerman was among the first provinces which responded to this call. We selected Kerman province HMP as a case study to investigate the research questions raised in this study. The study revealed two types of leverage, which played crucial role in agenda setting, policy formulation and implementation of HMP including politics (political commitment) and policy entrepreneurs. The multiple streams model was found to be informative for thinking about different stages of a policy cycle including agenda setting, policy formulation and policy implementation. It was also found to be a useful framework in analyzing HiAP initiatives as these policies do not smoothly and readily reach the policy agenda.

Should mountains (really) matter in science and policy?

This preface to the special issue “Frames on the move: Regional governance in mountain areas” has the following aims. First, it introduces governance in mountain regions as a special and instructive case of regional environmental governance in terms of territorial scaling, policy integration, and actor diversity. Second, the preface elaborates three themes that resonate throughout the articles in this special issue, namely the important role of global agenda setting, the status of mountains as a category of regional knowledge and action, and the dynamics and consequences of policy diffusion. The third aim is to provide an overview of the nine articles. Finally, the preface summarizes what can be gained from examining mountain governance.

Exploring societal responses towards managerial prerogative in entrepreneurial universities

Society's expectations for an increased role in science agenda setting and greater returns on public science investments shift university management practices. Entrepreneurial university, new public management, and sociology of science literatures inform the changing expectations about the roles and norms that govern university management and scientists' behaviours but scholars have paid limited attention to societal responses when those changing roles and norms are employed. We examine societal responses towards managerial prerogative in managing scientists in public universities. Content analysis of media data from six cases of universities in Denmark and New Zealand demonstrates extended societal engagement regarding organisation-related topics, a division of opinion regarding managerial prerogative towards sanction of scientists' behaviours, and constrained ability of employers and employees to engage in public debate due to employment law issues. Implications for researchers and university managers engaging with society and the role of communication competencies to achieve the third mission are discussed.

To ICSI or not to ICSI? That was the question.

To ICSI or not to ICSI? That was the question.

Philanthrocapitalism, past and present: The Rockefeller Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the setting(s) of the international/global health agenda

In recent years the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has emerged as this era's most renowned, and argu- ably its most influential, global health player. A century ago, the Rockefeller Foundation—likewise founded by the richest, most ruthless and innovative capitalist of his day—was an even more powerful international health actor. This article reflects critically on the roots, exigencies, and reach of global health philanthropy, comparing the goals, para- digms, principles, modus operandi, and agenda-setting roles of the Rockefeller and Gates Foundations in their historical contexts. It proposes that the Rockefeller Foundation's early 20th century initia- tives had a greater bearing on interna- tional health when the field was wide open—in a world order characterized by forceful European and ascendant U.S. imperialism—than do the Gates Foundation's current global health efforts amidst neoliberal globalization and fad- ing U.S. hegemony. It concludes that the Gates Foundation's pervasive influence is nonetheless of grave concern both to democratic global health governance and to scientific independence—and urges scientists to play a role in contest- ing and identifying alternatives to global health philanthrocapitalism. INTRODUCTION International health philanthropy, American-style, is back. Almost exactly a century after the Rockefeller Foundation began to use John D. Rockefeller's colossal oil profits to stake a preeminent role in shaping the institutions, ideologies, and practices of international health (as well as medi- cine, education, social sciences, agri- culture, and science), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has emerged as the current era's most influential global health (and education, develop- ment, and agriculture) agenda-setter. The high profile of its eponymous soft - ware magnate founder and his wife, cou- pled with the Foundation's big-stakes ap- proach to grant-making and partnering, has made it a de facto leader in the global health field. Each of these two uber-powerful foun- dations emerged at a critical juncture in the history of international/global health. Each was started by the richest, most ruthless and innovative capitalist of his day

Understanding Uncontested Director Elections

We examine the determinants and consequences of voting outcomes in uncontested director elections. Exploiting a unique hand-collected data set of the rationale behind proxy advisors’ recommendations—the primary driver of voting outcomes—we document the director and board characteristics on which voting shareholders focus (as well as those that they neglect), their evolution over time, and their relative importance. Absent a negative recommendation, high votes withheld are infrequent, highlighting the agenda-setting role of proxy advisors. While high votes withheld rarely result in director turnover, our analyses show that firms often respond to an adverse vote by explicitly addressing the underlying concern. Overall, it appears that shareholders use their votes in uncontested director elections to get directors to address specific problems, rather than to vote them onto or off of the board, but they do so only on matters highlighted by the proxy advisors. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2760 . This paper was accepted by Suraj Srinivasan, accounting.

The Journalistic Quality of Internet Formats and Services

How do users rate the journalistic quality of different formats and services on the internet? To answer this question a survey was conducted in which 1000 German internet users evaluated 11 formats and services. The participants were recruited through an online panel and were matched with the general distribution of the population with respect to age, gender, and education level. In summary, the results show that internet users perceive distinct differences between formats and services and in most cases prefer professional journalism. Therefore, it is unlikely that competition exists between journalism, social media, and news search engines. The majority of the respondents believed that press websites best embodied features such as credibility, regular reporting, and timeliness. Although Wikipedia, television station websites, and radio station websites received fewer top votes, they were still rated significantly higher than all other services. Users still perceive professional journalism in the traditional gatekeeper and agenda-setting role. However, if users are actively in search of specific information or reports about special areas of interest, they prefer news search engines and Wikipedia. News search engines and portals with news are especially well suited for orienting users on the internet and the spontaneous discovery of interesting topics.

Political Godfather-Son Conflict in South-Western Nigeria, 2004-2006: The Role of the Press

Political godfather-son conflict has been upsetting Nigeria’s development. The conflict, rooted in clash of values, interest, needs and resources, involved political office holders in top hierarchy of government. There have been scholarly works on the gate-keeping and agenda setting role of the media in political conflicts, but the actual role the Nigerian media play in political godfather-son conflict is inadequate in literature. Thus, this study was carried out to determine how selected newspapers reported such conflict between a former State Governor, Rasheed Ladoja and a political godfather Lamidi Adedibu, in Oyo State, South Western Nigeria. The study period was 2004 to 2006 when the conflict heightened and escalated to physical violence and civil unrest. Five nationally-circulated newspapers were selected for the study, namely: Daily Champion, Daily Trust, Nigerian Tribune, The Guardian and The Punch. Purposive sampling was used to select 105 editorial items in 90 editions of the selected newspapers. The study adopted dialectical hermeneutics in data gathering and analysis. This was done to investigate partisanship, fairness, bias and largely the extent of social responsibility displayed in reporting the conflict by the newspapers. It was discovered that the vast reportage of the conflicts was largely negative as the newspapers overwhelmingly published stories that contributed to escalation of the conflicts. The reportage reflected incitement, partisanship and bias on the part of the newspapers. The reportage could not have helped in reconciling the conflicting parties, but fuelled the conflicts to violence and public unrest. The reportage was socially irresponsible and unethical journalistic practice has become a constraint to the development of democracy in Nigeria. The Nigerian press need to be development oriented by practising peace journalism. This will advance Nigeria’s democracy, as well as help prevent any military intervention in Nigeria’s politics in the future.

The emergence of maternal health as a political priority in Madhya Pradesh, India: a qualitative study.

BackgroundPolitics plays a critical role in agenda setting in health affairs; therefore, understanding the priorities of the political agenda in health is very important. The political priority for safe motherhood has been investigated at the national level in different countries. The objective of this study was to explore why and how maternal health became a political priority at sub-national level in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India.MethodsThis study followed a qualitative design. Data were collected by carrying out interviews and review of documents. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with twenty respondents from four stakeholder groups: government officials, development partners, civil society and academics. Data analysis was performed using thematic analysis. The analysis was guided by Kingdon’s multiple streams model.ResultsThe emergence of maternal health as a political priority in Madhya Pradesh was the result of convergence in the developments in different streams: the development of problem definition, policy generation and political change. The factors which influenced this process were: emerging evidence of the high magnitude of maternal mortality, civil society’s positioning of maternal mortality as a human rights violation, increasing media coverage, supportive policy environment and launch of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the availability of effective policy solutions, India’s aspiration of global leadership, international influence, maternal mortality becoming a hot debate topic and political transition at the national and state levels. Most of these factors first became important at national level which then cascaded to the state level. Currently, there is a supportive policy environment in the state for maternal health backed by greater political will and increased resources. However, malnutrition and population stabilization are the competing priorities which may push maternal health off the agenda.ConclusionsThe influence of the events and factors evolving from international and national levels significantly contributed to the development of maternal health as a priority in Madhya Pradesh. This led to several opportunities in terms of policies, guidelines and programmes for improving maternal health. These efforts were successful to some extent in improving maternal health in the state but several implementation challenges still require special attention.

Taxing Capital Income in Emerging Countries: Will FATCA Open the Door?

For many emerging and developing economies, it is exceedingly difficult to constrain residents from evading tax liability on income from capital, whether earned domestically or abroad. Meanwhile, an international regime for combatting offshore tax evasion is emerging, and the form of the new regime will be established during a narrow window of opportunity over the next few years. If a uniform, multilateral automatic information exchange system is established, it would improve emerging countries’ ability to tax the offshore accounts of their residents and, perhaps more importantly, their capacity to collect information about and tax domestic-source income from capital. In contrast, a fragmented automatic information exchange regime likely would not benefit countries outside the developed economies. Interestingly, the concerns of emerging and developing economies regarding the contours of the new international regime substantially align with the concerns of multinational financial institutions. As a result, emerging countries may find that multinational financial institutions could be improbable allies in the battle over taxing offshore accounts. However, a governance structure for a uniform automatic information exchange regime that could be useful to emerging countries’ tax administrations will materialize only if the regime evolves along the line of international financial law, with the G-20 playing an agenda-setting role. This article explores the requisite governance structure and concludes by describing steps emerging countries may take in bilateral and multilateral settings to help create that structure.

Trends in US newspaper and television coverage of tobacco

PurposeThe news media plays an important role in agenda setting and framing of stories about tobacco control. The purpose of this study was to examine newspaper, newswire and television coverage...

Agenda-Setting Effects of Sun-Related News Coverage on Public Attitudes and Beliefs About Tanning and Skin Cancer

The topics and framing of news stories relevant to skin cancer prevention have shifted over time. This study examined agenda-setting effects of such news stories on public attitudes and beliefs about tanning and skin cancer. Content analysis data on 516 articles published in two major daily newspapers in Melbourne, Australia, from 1994 to 2007 were combined with circulation data to generate indices of potential news exposure. Associations between these indices and cross-sectional telephone survey data from the same period on 6,244 adults’ tanning attitudes and perceived susceptibility to skin cancer were examined using logistic regression models, accounting for the temporal precedence of news content. Pro-sun protection stories on attitudes and behavior were associated with older adults not thinking a tan looks healthy. Pro-sun protection stories on solaria were associated with less preference for a deep tan among young adults who like to suntan. Stories on vitamin D that were unsupportive of or ambiguous about sun protection were associated with a number of pro-tan attitudes among younger adults. Results indicate news coverage during 1994–2007 served an important agenda-setting role in explaining the public's attitudes and beliefs about tanning and skin cancer. Vitamin D stories appeared most influential, particularly among young adults.

Good Governance, Democracy and Leadership styles in Africa

Issues of constitutionalism, good governance and democracy are determined by the type of leadership in a country and/or continent. Despite colonial legacy, leadership in Africa has struggled to promote pro-people policies that accommodate the needs of the populace. Leadership deficiency is a cause for concern in African countries in terms of progressive and visionary leadership. Perspectives on political leadership in Africa vary from the“criminalisation” of the state to political leadership as “dispensing patrimony”, the “recycling “of elites and the use of state power and resources to consolidate political and economic power as stated by Van Wyk (2007) . African states and their leaders have exploited and monopolized internal sovereignty to mean absolute power, persornalisation of state-like services and have monopoly of and over organised violence. This paper attempt to review and analyze the type and styles of political leadership in Africa in an effort to promote democracy and good governance. Leaders play a pivotal role in political agenda setting, the distribution of resources and political actions. The contemporary state in Africa is a remnant of a colonially imposed system. At the time of independence, elites attempted to transform this but only succeeded in entrenching their interests .This paper therefore seeks to unpakage why African countries are no better than they were under colonial rule. Of what value then is the hard won independence that African countries commemorate on a yearly basis? African politicians need to provide good leadership qualities so as to consolidate democracy and good governance

Factors in Mass Media, Third-Term Agenda and Governance in Nigeria

There are plethora of contending reasons for the failure of the third-term agenda embarked upon by the erstwhile President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo to elongate his term of office from the constitutional two terms to a third term. Although no single account is sufficient to explain the failure and its implications on the festering governance crisis in the country, one key point of convergence is that the media played a pivotal role in ensuring public education on the contentious issue. The study therefore assessed the influence of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s policies on the role of mass media against the Third Term Agenda. It also attempts to verify the actual nature of the role of mass media in the Third Term Agenda and investigated the influence of ethnicity and media ownership on the role of the mass media in the Third Term Agenda. It further examined the efforts of the mass media in the emergence of the Fourth Republic in Nigeria. This was with a view to assessing the roles of the mass media in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Third Term Agenda. The study utilized both primary and secondary data. A total of 170 copies of questionnaire were distributed among members of political parties, academia, journalists, pro-democracy groups and relevant NGOs. The selected respondents were: two members of five major political parties; twenty scholars from recognized academic institutions in Nigeria; three journalists each from three dailies and two weekly newspapers; one member of staff of FRCN in five States as well as National Television Authority staff members: and two members of staff each from state owned radio and television stations in the sampled states; five members of staff each from Private radio stations; five members of staff each from two private television stations; five members of five pro-democracy Non Governmental Organisations across Nigeria; and five members of staff each from National Broadcasting Corporation and Ministry of Information. The secondary sources included books, journal, dailies, among others. The primary data were analysed using the descriptive and inferential statistics while the secondary data were subjected to content analysis. The results showed that 37.2% of the responded clearly that government’s policy did not impact the role of the mass media on the third term agenda. It also, the study showed that the mass media played agenda setting role upon which other actors based their agitations in the third term agenda (54.3 per cent) and that ethnicity did not condition the role of the mass media. Furthermore, the result showed that privately owned media outlets provided a quantum of agitation against the third term agenda. Finally, the mass media were major actors in the race that birthed the fourth republic and in the quest to ensure the preservation of the democracy. The study concluded that the mass media, maintained an approach and strategy that were largely encapsulated in aggressive attack and criticism rather than an educative effort that is capable of nurturing a democracy. KEY WORDS - Mass Media, Democracy/democratization, Third-Term Agenda, Tenure Elongation.

ICT as an Engine for Community Participation

This paper discusses two issues prevalent in community media: Information communication technology (ICT) and Community participation. While several studies have explored community media and ICT in Uganda (Nassanga, 2003, 2009a, 2009b), the view that ICT has changed the way media operate to an extent of reversing the agenda-setting role to the listeners (McQuail, 2006, pp. 38-39; Straubhaar & Larose 2002, p. 386) needed investigation. Using Kagadi-Kibale Community radio (KKCR), the paper shows how ICT is spreading in one Ugandan region and the relationship that technology has with participation in community media activities. Findings show that there is need to redefine the relationship between ICT and geographically defined community media as usage of ICT is dependent on forces that still require decades to harmonize. The paper therefore suggests that an alternative to community media, herein called Basic Media, is best suited to match the communication patterns of a developing world.

News Media Coverage of Trans Fat: Health Risks and Policy Responses

Prior research indicates that the news media play a critical role in transmitting information to the public about the most pressing public health problems, and framing attributions about who in society is responsible for solving these problems. In this article, we use content analysis methods to study the agenda-setting and framing functions of the news media in shaping perceptions about the health risks posed by trans fat in the U.S. diet. A census of news stories focusing on trans fat was collected from the two largest circulation U.S. newspapers and three major television networks from 1998 to 2008 (N = 156). The content of news coverage was analyzed using a 23-item instrument. Findings indicated that the news media served an important agenda-setting role in educating the public about the presence of trans fat in the U.S. diet and describing the health risks these foods pose. In addition, results indicate that news media coverage framed attributions of responsibility for solving the problem of trans fat in the food supply. News stories noting the heart disease risks of trans fat were significantly more likely to mention governmental responses aimed at curbing consumption than news coverage that did not note these health risks.

Internal Colonization and Revolt: Rap as an Underground Political Discourse in Oakland, CA

This paper briefly explores the relationship between the Black Panther Party (B.P.P.) and local rap music in Oakland, California to compare this relationship to mainstream rap music. As rap music continues to gain exposure and popularity, hip-hop culture has increasingly become a topic in the social sciences and humanities. However, most studies of hip-hop culture have predominately focused on the mass-market trend toward worldwide commercialization of rap rather than fully examining how underground units continue to inform and innovate the mass trend. Inadequate attention is currently paid to the political development of rap as an underground narrative from a single location. Summarizing results from primary sources drawn from Oakland, CA, this paper contends that rap’s development partly stems from origins in the “war” between the Black Panther Party (B.P.P.) and COINTELPRO efforts. There are two major local consequences to this starting point. First, the messages in rap from Oakland, CA over the past thirty years were shaped and influenced by the militant, radical, and political nature of the B.P.P. in a way that mainstream rap music was not. Second, the styles of rap from Oakland, CA gained attention about a decade after other domestic locations (such as New York, NY) and on the basis of street authenticity being marketable. This raises significant questions about the agenda setting role of local rap artists — namely, their ability to create messages and styles of music that are more resistant to co-optation even while achieving a modicum of local popularity and commercial appeal. As such, this paper offers new insights into urban politics and provides a new outlook on addressing fundamental questions of power and equality in a liberal democracy.

The Role of Agenda Setting in Pension Market Integration

Through a study of pension market integration, this article analyzes variation in the European Commission’s ability to use its agenda setting tools effectively. Contrasting failed and successful negotiations over European pension directives, the main argument is that efficient agenda setting in this policy area requires the Commission to build strategic coalitions, frame issues in a way that resonates with key actors, set aside internal rivalries, trim a crowded agenda, and enhance the quality of information flows regarding workplace pension reform options and limits in other countries.