Investigates static and dynamic approaches to agenda-setting research by means of cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of the same data, comparing agenda-setting effects of German television news shows. Finds the static models to be unsatisfactory, while the dynamic model revealed two types of effects: television coverage caused problem…

A content analysis of major German television news shows and 53 weekly surveys on 16 issues were used to compare linear and nonlinear models as ways to describe the relationship between media coverage and the public agenda. Results indicate that nonlinear models are in some cases superior to linear models in terms of explained variance. (34…