ABSTRACT
The theory of agenda setting was conceptualized before the fragmentation now evidenced in the twenty-first century new media climate. The strength of the agenda-setting theory has been captured by its continued prolific usage, not only within the field of political communication (Bryant & Miron, 2004), but across other varied disciplines (McCombs, 2004). The expansion of the theory to include contingent conditions for agenda-setting effectiveness (McCombs & Weaver, 1973) and intermedia agenda setting (Meraz, 2009, 2011a, 2011b; Roberts & McCombs, 1994; Siu, 2010; Sweetser, Golan & Wanta, 2008) has further bolstered the strength of the theory's applicability in relation to the changing media marketplace (Anderson, 2010; Benkler, 2006) and to changing generational news-reading habits (Coleman & McCombs, 2007). The media's role in fostering democratic citizenship to the public (Page, 1996; Schudson, 1995) through highlighting significant issues and issue attributes remains a central role for traditional media entities in a twenty-first century news climate in which long-tail media options abound on the Internet (Anderson, 2006; Shirky, 2008).
