Cover not available
Article published In:
Fifty years of agenda-setting research: Volume I
Edited by Chris J. Vargo
[The Agenda Setting Journal 2:2] 2018
► pp. 145–167

r/Agenda_rejection

Attribute agenda-setting resistance between horizontal Reddit pages and vertical news coverage

| Sam Houston State University

Reddit communities focused on Christianity demonstrate significant resistance to mainstream news media attribute agendas on Christianity and Christians. This computerized content analysis of five years of news coverage and survey responses from 113 Redditors found digital community members soundly rejected mainstream news attribute agendas. Data point to the strength and independence of digital communities to meld and define their own agendas and rhetoric while affirming both a need for orientation and previous research establishing limited agenda-setting effects regarding religion.

Keywords: attribute agenda setting, agenda melding, need for orientation, Reddit, Christianity, digital community, imagined community
Article outline
  • Literature review
    • Agenda setting & agenda melding
    • Imagined community
    • Reddit
  • Methodology
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Limitations and opportunities for future research
  • References
Published online: 13 November 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/asj.18008.fun
References
Anderson, B.
(2006) Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (Revised). London, UK: Verso.Google Scholar
Anyefru, E.
(2008) Cyber-nationalism: The imagined Anglophone Cameroon community in cyberspace. African Identities, 61, 253–274. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Avieson, B.
(2015) From mani stones to Twitter: Bhutan creates a unique media matrix for a 21st-century democracy. International Journal of Communication, 91, 2487–2506.Google Scholar
Becker, L., & McCombs, M.
(1978) The role of the press in determining voter reactions to presidential primaries. Human Communication Research, 41, 301–307. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bowe, B. J., Fahmy, S., & Wanta, W.
(2013) Missing religion: Second level agenda setting and Islam in American newspapers. International Communication Gazette, 751, 636–652. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brennen, B., & dela Cerna, E.
(2010) Journalism in Second Life. Journalism Studies, 11, 546–554. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Breslow, H., & Allagui, I.
(2012) The Internet, fixity, and flow: Challenges to the articulation of an imagined community. In H. Breslow & A. Mousoutzanis (Eds.), At the interface / Probing the boundaries: Vol. 83. Cybercultures: Mediations of community, culture, politics (pp. 101–123). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Brill | Rodopi. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Camaj, L., & Weaver, D. H.
(2013) Need for orientation and attribute agenda-setting during a U.S. election campaign. International Journal of Communication, 71, 1442–1463.Google Scholar
Cimino, R., & Smith, C.
(2011) The new atheism and the formation of the imagined secularist community. Journal of Media & Religion, 101, 24–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coleman, R., & Banning, S.
(2006) Network TV news’ affective framing of the presidential candidates: Evidence for a second-level agenda-setting effect through visual framing. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 831, 313–328. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Maio, M., Alkazemi, M., & Wanta, W.
(2016) An examination of the Roman Catholic Church’s agenda-setting function in Argentina. Journal of Media & Religion, 151, 15–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dill, R. K., & Wu, H. D.
(2009) Coverage of Katrina in local, regional, national newspapers. Newspaper Research Journal, 30(1), 6–20. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Du, Y. R., & Wong, J.
(2013) Greater newspaper use increases agreement on public issues. Newspaper Research Journal, 34(3), 60–71. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Erol, A. E.
(2013) “Please don’t be Turk, BE GREEK, BE ARMENIAN”: Agency and deixis across virtualized Turkish imagined community. International Journal of Communication, 71, 741–758.Google Scholar
Festinger, L.
(1968) A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Funk, M. J., & McCombs, M.
(2017) Strangers on a theoretical train. Journalism Studies, 181, 845–865. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hansen, E. K., & Hansen, G. L.
(2012) Community crisis and community newspapers: A case study of The Licking Valley Courier. Grassroots Editor, 53(3–4), 8–12.Google Scholar
Hanusch, F.
(2014) Dimensions of Indigenous journalism culture: Exploring Māori news-making in Aotearoa New Zealand. Journalism, 15(8), 951–967. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hart, R. P., & Carroll, C.
(2010) DICTION: The text analysis program (Version 6.0) [Computer software]. Retrieved from [URL]
Hatcher, J., & Haavik, E.
(2014) We write with our hearts. Journalism Practice, 81, 149–163. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heim, K.
(2015) Need for orientation predicts reporters’ reliance on blogs. Newspaper Research Journal, 361, 455–468. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jarvis, S. E.
(2004) Partisan patterns in presidential campaign speeches, 1948–2000. Communication Quarterly, 521, 403–419. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, J., Meese, J., & van der Nagel, E.
(2016) Regulation and social practice online. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 301, 146–157. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koebler, J.
(2016, June 13). Orlando shooting response shows Reddit can’t be the “front page of the Internet.” Vice News. Retrieved from [URL]
Laskin, A. V.
(2014) Strategic financial communication. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 81, 127–129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lauterer, J.
(2006) Community journalism: Relentlessly local. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Lee, E.-J., & Oh, S. Y.
(2013) Seek and you shall find? How need for orientation moderates knowledge gain from Twitter Use. Journal of Communication, 631, 745–765. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, J. K.
(2015) Knowledge as a measure of news reception in the agenda-setting process. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 591, 22–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, N. Y.
(2016) Two different motivations on agenda setting: Need for orientation and motivated reasoning. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 281, 484–510. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lim, M.
(2012) Life is local in the imagined global community: Islam and politics in the Indonesian blogosphere. Journal of Media & Religion, 111, 127–140. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luo, Y.
(2013) Mapping agenda-setting research in China: A meta-analysis study. Chinese Journal of Communication, 61, 269–285. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maslow, A.
(1943) Theory of human motivation. Psychology Review, 501, 370–396. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Massanari, A.
(2017) #Gamergate and The Fappening: How Reddit’s algorithm, governance, and culture support toxic technocultures. New Media & Society, 191, 329–346. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matar, D., & Dakhlallah, F.
(2006) What it means to be Shiite in Lebanon: Al Manar and the imagined community of resistance. Westminster Papers in Communication & Culture, 3(2), 22–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matthes, J.
(2008) Need for orientation as a predictor of agenda-setting effects: Causal evidence from a two-wave panel study. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 201, 440–453. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCombs, M.
(2014) Setting the agenda (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
McCombs, M., Lopez-Escobar, E., & Llamas, J. P.
(2000) Setting the agenda of attributes in the 1996 Spanish general election. Journal of Communication, 50(2), 77–92. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCombs, M., & Shaw, D.
(1972) The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 361, 176–187. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meese, J.
(2014) “It belongs to the Internet”: Animal images, attribution norms and the politics of amateur media production. M/C Journal, 17(2), 1–1.Google Scholar
Milner, R. M.
(2013) Pop polyvocality: Internet memes, public participation, and the Occupy Wall Street movement. International Journal of Communication, 71, 2357–2390.Google Scholar
Muddiman, A., Jomini Stroud, N., & McCombs, M.
(2014) Media fragmentation, attribute agenda setting, and political opinions about Iraq. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 581, 215–233. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Neilan, D.
(2017, June 8). Reddit isn’t terrible if you only look at its best and dumbest subreddits. A.V. Club. Retrieved from [URL]
Nelson, C. R., Britten, B., & Troilo, J.
(2015) Appalachian culture and female newspaper editors’ career paths in West Virginia. Community Journalism, 4(2). Retrieved from [URL]
Noelle-Neumann, E.
(1984) The spiral of silence: Public opinion, our social skin. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Noguti, V.
(2016) Post language and user engagement in online content communities. European Journal of Marketing, 501, 695–723. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ohlheiser, A.
(2016, October 14). Ken Bone was a “hero.” Now Ken Bone is “bad.” It was his destiny as a human meme. The Washington Post. Retrieved from [URL]
Olsson, E.-K., & Hammargård, K.
(2016) The rhetoric of the president of the European Commission: Charismatic leader or neutral mediator? Journal of European Public Policy, 231, 550–570. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Published materials: Scholarly research using the Diction program
(2018, June). Retrieved from [URL]
Ragas, M. W., & Roberts, M. S.
(2009) Agenda setting and agenda melding in an age of horizontal and vertical media: A new theoretical lens for virtual brand communities. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 861, 45–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reader, B.
(2007) Air mail: NPR sees “community” in letters from listeners. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 511, 651–669. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reddit metrics
(2017a) New reddits by month (How Reddit grew over time). Retrieved from [URL]
(2017b) Top subreddits. Retrieved from http://redditmetrics.com/topGoogle Scholar
Shaw, D. L., Hamm, B. J., & Knott, D. L.
(2000) Technological change, agenda challenge and social melding: Mass media studies and the four ages of place, class, mass and space. Journalism Studies, 11. Retrieved from [URL]
Shaw, D. L., & Weaver, D. H.
(2014) Epilogue: Media agenda-setting and audience agenda-melding. In M. McCombs (Ed.), Setting the agenda (2nd ed., pp. 145–150). Malden, MA: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Spencer, A. T.
(2013) High-end immigrants create an imagined community in Costa Rica: Examining the evolving discourse in ethnic-minority media. Human Communication, 16(1), 13–30.Google Scholar
St. John, B., Johnson, K., & Nah, S.
(2014) Patch.com. Journalism Practice, 81, 197–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Steinbuch, Y.
(2016, October 14). Ken Bone is actually kind of an awful guy. The New York Post. Retrieved from [URL]
Symeou, P. C., Bantimaroudis, P., & Zyglidopoulos, S. C.
(2015) Cultural agenda setting and the role of critics: An empirical examination in the market for art-house films. Communication Research, 421, 732–754. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tan, Y., & Weaver, D. H.
(2013) Agenda diversity and agenda setting from 1956 to 2004. Journalism Studies, 141, 773–789. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Valenzuela, S., & Chernov, G.
(2016) Explicating the values-issue consistency hypothesis through need for orientation. Canadian Journal of Communication, 411, 49–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vargo, C. J., Guo, L., McCombs, M., & Shaw, D. L.
(2014) Network issue agendas on Twitter during the 2012 U.S. presidential election. Journal of Communication, 641, 296–316. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wasike, B. S.
(2011) Framing social news sites: An analysis of the top ranked stories on Reddit and Digg. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, 27(1), 57–67.Google Scholar
Wright, L. L.
(2016) Perceptions about posting: A survey of community journalists about social media postings. Community Journalism, 5(1), 24–40.Google Scholar
Zaharopoulos, D., & Kwok, L.
(2017) Law firms’ organizational impression management strategies on Twitter. Journal of Creative Communications, 121, 48–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zyglidopoulos, S., Symeou, P. C., Bantimaroudis, P., & Kampanellou, E.
(2012) Cultural agenda setting: Media attributes and public attention of Greek museums. Communication Research, 391, 480–498. DOI logoGoogle Scholar