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Article published In: Fifty years of agenda-setting research: Volume I
Edited by Chris J. Vargo
[The Agenda Setting Journal 2:2] 2018
► pp. 191–213

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Disruptor-in-chief?

The networked influence of President Trump in building and setting the agenda

 | Purdue University
 | University of South Florida
Published online: 13 November 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/asj.18020.wie
Abstract
One prominent competitor to press influence on the public in digital spaces is the President of the United States. This presidential influence is largely unaccounted for, however, in contemporary agenda-setting models. This study examines the network agenda-building and setting capabilities of President Trump around tax reform and North Korea to determine whether and how presidential use of Twitter facilitates agenda building and disrupts the traditional press/public agenda-setting process. Offered in this research are contributions to network agenda setting by placing this theoretical perspective in conversation with research on how the press and public “echo” the language of the president under particular circumstances. Our results illustrate the president can disrupt press-public agenda formation in some circumstances, but popular accounts of the all-disrupting influence President Trump has on political life should be approached cautiously.
Article outline
  • Contemporary agenda setting
  • Network agenda setting and the echoing effect: Press & public
  • Network agenda building and the echoing effect: Press & president
  • Revisiting network agenda setting and the echoing effect: President & public
  • Method
    • Data collection
      • Policy issues and time frames
      • Actor networks
    • Data analysis
      • Text mining
      • Network construction
      • QAP analysis of network agendas
      • Hypothesis testing
  • Results
    • Network agenda setting: Press & public
    • Network agenda building: President & press
    • Revisiting network agenda setting: President & public
    • Agenda disruption
  • Discussion
  • Note
  • References
References (47)
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