Issue Attention Cycles
nisbetmc | September 25, 2006Chris Wallace has this to say about the ground rules agreed to by Fox News and Clinton....
nisbetmc | September 25, 2006
News outlets and the blogosphere are abuzz over Bill Clinton's appearance on Fox News Sunday. The whole episode is a classic example of how the negotiation of news between journalists and powerful sources can sometimes go wrong, especially when the two parties might ultimately have competing goals.
After hosting a week long summit on global warming that raised $7 billion, Clinton wanted to use Fox News to reach its GOP viewers on the issue. Clinton's effort was paired with agenda-building activities during the week that were designed to attract attention among GOP members of the public who…
nisbetmc | August 3, 2006
With Chris Mooney, over at Skeptical Inquirer Online, we have a lengthy article evaluating coverage of the hurricane-global warming debate. We interviewed the major science writers, columnists, and political reporters who have written about the topic, we also interviewed several of the major scientists in the area. We conclude with recommendations on how journalists and scientists can work together to improve coverage. The article was originally intended to appear this summer at a print magazine, but got bumped at the last minute. So we decided to get it up on the Web with timeliness and…
nisbetmc | July 27, 2006
Ten climate scientists who disagree about the linkages between global warming and more intense hurricanes have released a joint statement warning that regardless of the resolution of the scientific debate, hurricanes remain a serious threat, and that policymakers need to rethink coastal development. On Tuesday, Andrew Revkin of the NY Times contributed this story on the announcement.
The joint statement is a leading example of how scientists can work with journalists to "negotiate" news about the policy relevance of science. It's a shift in thinking about public communication that is…
nisbetmc | July 17, 2006
Previously I posted that journalists and news organizations have a "limited carrying capacity," meaning that they can't pay attention to all issues all the time, so that when one issue or set of issues rise in attention, other issues are bumped from coverage.
The relationship is relevant as the U.S. faces what has been called a "perfect storm" of foreign policy crises. These foreign policy topics have come to dominate the news over the last few weeks, but for the majority of Americans, perhaps the most salient issue in their daily lives right now is the record heat that stretches across…
nisbetmc | July 13, 2006The media, policy, and public agenda can be said to have a "limited carrying capacity." Since neither news organizations,members of Congress, nor the public can devote equal amounts of resources and attention to all issues, the rise in attention to one issue on the news agenda, is likely to bump down in prominence another issue across other agendas.
AND so, over the past few weeks, as Madeline Albright dubs it , we have reached a "perfect storm" of foreign policy crises. Consider the many flash points across the globe, events that, as TIME magazine frames it this week, have led the Bush…
nisbetmc | June 26, 2006The real test as to whether Gore's Inconvenient Truth can capture a mass audience takes place over the next two weeks. The film opened in a 100 new theaters this past weekend, bringing its total to 514 theaters across 40 cities. (By comparison, the comedy Nacho Libre played in over 3,000 theaters.)
With the greater number of venues, Truth averaged $3,700 per screen, down from $4,700 the weekend before, and down from the stunning $70,000 average when it opened in just four theaters on May 24. According to BoxOffice Mojo, Truth earned $1.9 milion over the weekend, ranking it 14th among…
nisbetmc | June 22, 2006Yesterday Peter Whoriskey of the WPost detailed the weaknesses in the dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee in Florida. If the dike failed, as might happen if a major hurricane hit the region, the lake would flood the surrounding area, affecting about 40,000 residents.
I have spotted a few of these kind of stories in the news, focusing on a specific region or area and the problems with dikes or levees designed to prevent catatrosphic flooding. But when do the media and advocates re-define these isolated features into a larger national problem that requires national legislation and funding?
I am…