The Role of News Channe ls in Setting the Agenda Towards Political Issues: A Study of Data Visualization for CNN on Facebook

Abstract

Setting an agenda for the audience is one of the essential functions that news channels perform in society. Agenda theory asserts a close relationship between how the media presents topics and issues and the order of these issues to the public. The media prioritizes the news by giving particular importance to these issues and making them a priority for the public's concerns. The current paper discussed the analysis of political issues presented by the CNN news channel to determine the order of the media and (public agenda). The research analyzed all political news published on CNN's Facebook page for a week and conducted a field study on a convenience sampling of 500 individuals who follow the news channel on Facebook. The study found a statistically significant relationship between CNN's follow-up and the degree of interest in political issues. It also found a correlation between setting the political issues on CNN and their arrangement among the respondents.