Knowledge as a Measure of News Reception in the Agenda-Setting Process

This study investigates the role knowledge plays in the agenda-setting process, conceptualizing public affairs knowledge as a measure of news reception. Comparing content analysis data and opinion survey results of 2 election campaigns in Canada and the United States, this study finds that, on the individual level, knowledge better predicted media's agenda-setting effects than traditional self-reported exposure items. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate that knowledge mediated the effects of interest on the variance of agenda-setting effects. Implications of these findings are discussed.