First- and second-level agenda setting in the Twittersphere: An application to the Italian political debate. Issue 2 (2nd April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ceron, Andrea; Curini, Luigi; Iacus, Stefano M.
• Is Part Of: Journal of information technology & politics. Volume 13:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 159
• Page End: 174
• Publication Date: 2016-04-02
• Subjects: Agenda setting -- media slant -- new media -- news online -- sentiment analysis -- Twitter; Electronic government information -- Periodicals; Internet in public administration -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Political aspects -- Periodicals; 320.0285
• DOI: 10.1080/19331681.2016.1160266
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1933-1681

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The rise of social network sites reopened the debate on the ability of traditional media to influence public opinion and act as an agenda setter. To answer this question, the present paper investigates first-level and second-level agenda-setting effects in the online environment by focusing on two heated Italian political debates (the reform of public funding of parties and the debate over austerity). By employing innovative and efficient statistical methods such as the lead–lag analysis and supervised sentiment analysis, we compare the attention devoted to each issue and the content spread by online news media and Twitter users. Our results show that online media keep their first-level agenda-setting power even though we find a marked difference between the slant of online news and the Twitter sentiment.