Political Communication blog

I feel as though I didn't do a good job of answering Graham's question yesterday in class about media consumption levels and agenda setting. So, here's a condensed version of what I was trying to say. Basically, agenda setting is seen more often among those who consume a lot of media. That makes sense, given that they would be receiving a lot of information from the mass media. The strongest effects are seen among those who are consuming a lot of media AND who are cognitive misers. In other words, these people are basically accepting what the mass media is saying without checking it out. While there can still be some agenda setting effects seen with "information seekers," it is less because these people are more likely to check out issues for themselves.