Agenda Setting Studies in Iberian and Latin América

Abstract

The Agenda Setting theory emerged as a challenge to the postulates of the theory of Minimal Effects, within the field of Mass Communication Research. In 1968, Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw (1972) carried out a groundbreaking study in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Their primary objective was to substantiate the hypothesis that the media exerts cognitive influences on public opinion. In this research, they verified the existence of significant correlations between the ranking of public issues highlighted by the mass media and the issues that Americans perceived as the most important problem (MIP). Hence, a productive tradition emerged in the field of political communication research, placing significant emphasis on investigating the dynamic interplay between the media, politics and the public.This theoretical-empirical perspective, which has been extensively developed worldwide, encountered a paradoxical situation in Ibero and Latin America. Despite being the epicenter of theoretical and empirical contributions involving the founding figures of the theory, a significant portion of this research has had limited circulation due to asymmetries in scientific systems, restricted access to database and language barriers, particularly from within Latin America. (Gallego Ramos, 2017) These conditions explain why numerous investigations did not have a similar impact to that coming from Anglo-Saxon sources. Nonetheless, the incorporation of the key concepts of Agenda Setting into numerous theoretical and empirical studies played a vital role in advancing projects that, with diverse objectives and scopes, generated substantial evidence on each level of analysis encompassed by the theory. In this chapter, we present a comprehensive review of studies conducted within the Ibero-American context from this academic perspective. The selection of these studies focuses on examining the intricate interplay among political, media, and public agendas. The organization of this display is based on their alignment with each of the three levels of agenda-setting theory: the agenda of objects, the agenda of attributes, and networked agenda setting. The objective is to illustrate the trajectory of the works conducted in the region and to emphasize the main concerns that arise within the political, social, and media landscapes of each of the Ibero-American countries included.