Revisiting Agenda-Setting Across Media Systems and Regime Types: Foundations, Network Dynamics, and Need for Orientation

Dear Colleagues,

It has now been more than five decades since McCombs and Shaw’s (1972) landmark Chapel Hill study first articulated how the media shapes public opinion. Since then, agenda-setting research has expanded far beyond its origins, developing into a rich and diverse field that examines how media makes certain issues, actors, and attributes more salient—and how these patterns of emphasis guide public attention. The traditional framework that consist of first- and second-level agenda-setting remains central: first-level agenda-setting shows how the salience of issues and political figures transfers from the media agenda to the public agenda, while second-level research demonstrates that the attributes linked to those issues and figures also migrate in similar ways (McCombs et al., 1997). Together, these contributions continue to anchor our understanding of media effects.

Approaching the theory’s 40th anniversary, Guo and McCombs (2011a, 2011b) introduced what became known as the Network Agenda-Setting (NAS) model, or third-level agenda-setting. Rather than treating issues and attributes as separate units, the NAS model highlights how they form interconnected clusters within both media content and public opinion (McCombs et al., 2014). This network-based perspective has gained considerable traction across Western and non-Western contexts alike, with many studies demonstrating its explanatory power (Guo and Vargo, 2015; Vu et al., 2014). At the same time, emerging research indicates that NAS effects may operate differently in polarised media environments and hybrid regimes, where they may not influence pro-oppositional individuals (Melek, 2024). This highlights the need for more comprehensive and comparative investigations.

Another important strand of recent work revisits the role of Need for Orientation (NFO), first theorised by McCombs and Weaver (1973) and later developed further by Matthes (2006; 2008), as well as Chernov, Valenzuela, and McCombs (2011). Although NFO has long been seen as a key factor shaping individuals’ susceptibility to agenda-setting effects, its place within NAS research remains only lightly explored, with only one study to date integrating the two (Melek, 2025). This gap signals a promising direction for advancing agenda-setting theory.

This Special Issue seeks contributions that revisit foundational agenda-setting concepts, expand theoretical boundaries, or apply agenda-setting approaches to new political, technological, and cultural contexts. We welcome work on first- and second-level agenda-setting, intermedia agenda-setting, agenda-building, NAS research, and studies that integrate NFO into any level of agenda-setting analysis. Submissions from Western, non-Western, and hybrid regimes, as well as electoral and non-electoral communication settings, are strongly encouraged.

References

Chernov, G., Valenzuela, S., & McCombs, M. (2011). An experimental comparison of two perspectives on the concept of need for orientation in agenda-setting theory. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 88, 142–155. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769901108800108

Guo, L., & McCombs, M. E (2011a). Network agenda setting: a third level of media effects. Paper presented at the Annual International Communication Association Conference, Boston, MA.

Guo, L. & McCombs, M. E (2011b). Toward the third level of Agenda Setting theory: A Network Agenda Setting Model. Paper presented at the AEJMC, St. Louis.

Guo L., & Vargo C. (2015). The power of message networks: A big-data analysis of the network agenda setting model and issue ownership. Mass Communication and Society, 18(5), 557–576. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2015.1045300

Matthes, J. (2006). The need for orientation towards news media: revising and validating a classic concept. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 18, 422–444. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edh118

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, 20, 440–453. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edn042

McCombs M. E., Llamas J. P., Lopez-Escobar E., Rey F. (1997). Candidate images in Spanish elections: Second-level agenda-setting effects. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 74(4), 703–717. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769909707400404

McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176–187. https://doi.org/10.1086/267990

McCombs, M. E., Shaw, D. L., & Weaver, D. H. (2014). New directions in agenda-setting theory and research. Mass Communication and Society, 17(6), 781–802. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2014.964871

McCombs, M. E, & Weaver, D. H. (1973). Voters’ Need for Orientation and Use of Mass Communication. Paper presented to the International Communication Association, Montreal, Canada, April 25–28.

Melek, G. (2024). Examining the role of political party predispositions and polarized media on network agenda setting: the case of Syrian refugees in Türkiye. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 101(2), 373–404. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990231211796

Melek, G. (2025). Applicability of need for orientation scales in network agenda-setting: a methodological exploration. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 37(3), edaf023. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edaf023

Vu H. T., Guo L., McCombs M. E. (2014). Exploring “the world outside and the pictures in our heads”: A network agenda-setting study. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 91(4), 669–686. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699014550090

Dr. Gizem Melek
Guest Editor

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• agenda-setting
• first-level agenda-setting
• second-level agenda-setting
• Network Agenda-Setting (NAS)
• Need for Orientation (NFO)
• intermedia agenda-setting
• agenda-building
• media influence
• issue salience
• public opinion