Peeling Back the Onion: Formative Agenda Building in Business Journalism

Authors

  • Matthew W. Ragas DePaul University Chicago, IL USA
  • Hai L. Tran DePaul University Chicago, IL USA

Keywords:

agenda building, business journalism, story ideas, source credibility, hierarchy of influences, individual-level influences

Abstract

This study looks beyond evidence of effects in news media content to examine factors journalists perceive as influencing their selection of sources for story ideas—the formative stage of agenda building. Survey data from a large sample of business journalists (N = 782) collected in three years help identify distinctive dimensions of business journalists’ reliance on resources for story idea generation, the impact of journalists’ characteristics, and the mediating role of source credibility. The findings provide new empirical insights into the multiple dimensions—or layers of the metaphorical onion (McCombs, 1992, 2014)—that collectively shape the media agenda as well as the broader process in which business journalists decide what makes news. The conceptual, methodological, and practical implications of the study are discussed.

Author Biographies

Matthew W. Ragas, DePaul University Chicago, IL USA

Matt Ragas (Ph.D., University of Florida) is an Associate Professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University in Chicago, USA. Email: mragas@depaul.edu and (312) 362-6003. 

Hai L. Tran, DePaul University Chicago, IL USA

Hai Tran (Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) is an Associate Professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University in Chicago, USA. Email: htran10@depaul.edu and (312) 362-6064.

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Published

2019-09-14

Issue

Vol. 13 (2019)

Section

Articles

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