A triadic interpretation of balance theory as a mediating factor in conditional agenda-setting

This study is a media-effects analysis that seeks to replicate recent findings in agenda-setting research that seem to indicate traditional measures of the theory may be insufficient in some cases. Agenda-setting theory suggests that the amount of coverage and order given to issues by the news media will correlate strongly with issues the public deems important. However, in two previous preliminary studies by this author, results found in cases where there is a large amount of media coverage for a certain issue or issues, the traditional measure of issue importance or salience may not produce a public agenda that correlates significantly with the media agenda order of issue coverage. In those two previous studies, results indicate for certain issues covered heavily by media, the public would not recognize the issue as important, yet would recognize the issue held a prominent place on the media agenda. Such incidents are at odds with the traditional assumptions of the agenda-setting function of the mass media. This study replicated the previous studies and found several stories that qualified as conditional issues because although the respondents recognized such issues as being near or at the top of the media agenda, they did not deem these issues as important themselves. This is conditional agenda-setting. It may be due to changes in media, culture or the way the issues are presented. This finding indicates a need for new and better ways for measuring agenda-setting. Additionally, this research presents triadic interpretations of balance theory, developed by Heider and Newcomb, which suggest why conditional agenda-setting responses may occur. Traditional balance theory uses a triangular balanced model, first used in the psychology field, to represent the need in humans for consonance and how dissonance creates imbalance in the triad. Since human sentiment prefers states of consonance, there is always movement toward balance in the triad through choices the public makes, in this case decisions about media and issues.