Data obtained from 22 surveys conducted from 1974 through 1981 in Louisville, Kentucky, were used in a study that explored the agenda setting hypothesis, which states that heightened coverage of issues by the media causes increased perceptions of that issue as salient among the public. The research addressed (1) the extent to which both issue saliences and attitudes over time are related to media content, (2) the extent to which the environmental context influences issue saliences and attitudes in relationship to media coverage, and (3) the nature of the causal relationship among media coverage, issue saliences, attitudes, and contextual variables. Media coverage of community issues was taken from the "Louisville Times" during the eight-year period. The results showed strong interrelationships among media coverage, context, saliences, and evaluation variables for seven prominent community issues: economic development, education, the environment, crime, local government, public recreation, and health care. The regression and canonical correlation analyses suggested that a reciprocal or cyclical influence occurred over time for the media coverage and context variables, on the one hand, and saliences and evaluations on the other. The final regression models for each issue did differ, however, in complexity and structure. (Extensive tables of findings are included.) (HOD)