Competing agendas and public attention: zero-sum dynamics between personal and civic domains

Abstract

This study examines influences on public salience of social issues by exploring 2 streams of content described as the “personal domain,” along with a “civic domain” of human activity. To account for these distinctions in media content, we return to the established agenda—setting paradigm and its agenda-melding extension. The central proposition of the study is a zero-sum notion that positions the 2 domains in competition with one another. We expect that as social media users seek entertainment-oriented content of personal nature, their attention toward the civic domain diminishes. While analyzing data from Cyprus, we conclude that there is evidence of a zero-sum influence primarily for unobtrusive issues, with a political orientation. A similar finding does not apply for obtrusive issues.