JPART — 2026-09-14
Original Cross-Source Corroboration and the Dynamics of Local Government Attention: Evidence from an Emerging Policy Field
Yingxin Zhang, Yixue Yao, Kaifeng Yang
PNAS 123/36 pp. e2534920123-e2534920123 2026-09-04 Original State-sponsored agenda setting: Measuring the impact of narrative laundering
Patrick L. Warren, Darren L. Linvill, Camille J. Saucier
Abstract
Foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) is an important part of the digital information ecosystem, yet its effects are poorly understood. Most research analyzing FIMI to date is descriptive, exposing efforts to erode trust, promote favorable narratives, and target specific communities. Existing work evaluating the impacts of FIMI contrasts those directly exposed to FIMI messaging (by viewing the original messages) with those who were not, finding little evidence of changes in beliefs or behavior. Rather than persuading individuals directly, we argue FIMI often operates through agenda-setting processes that shape which issues and narratives dominate public discourse. A key component of this process is narrative laundering, whereby misleading content is scrubbed of its origins and circulated into mainstream channels. This study examines the Russian-aligned Storm-1516 campaign, which uses state media, fabricated sites, and paid influencers to elevate false narratives, especially those that implicate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in corrupt acts. By analyzing the dissemination of these narratives, we assess how Storm-1516 shifts the public agenda, illustrating how foreign influence can exert substantial effects on information environments even when individual-level persuasive effects may be limited.
JOP 88/3 pp. 967-982 2026-07-01 Original Bottom-Up? Top-Down? Determinants of Issue Attention in State Politics
Andreu Casas, Oscar Stuhler, Julia Payson, Joshua A. Tucker, Richard Bonneau, Jonathan Nagler
PSJ — 2026-05-29
Original Media Coverage Shifts and Policy Overreactions: Evidence on Government Serial Processing and Information Saturation
Daniele Guariso, Omar A. Guerrero
Abstract
ABSTRACT We investigate the causal link between societal signals and policy changes through novel data and a unique empirical setting. Using a corpus with all the opinion columns published in 2017 in the nine major Mexican newspapers (the signals) and data on the universe of individual expenditure programs (the policies), we provide quantitative evidence about government overreactions (in terms of overspending) to differentiated media coverage across various policy topics. First, we test formal models of serial and parallel information processing that relate to the debate between punctuated equilibrium and incrementalism. We find empirical support for the serial processing hypothesis. Second, we frame a natural experiment exploiting two earthquakes that took place in September of the same year. By leveraging the disparity in coverage of opinion columns across both earthquakes, we employ a difference‐in‐differences design and find evidence of the causal relationship between coverage shifts and policy overreactions. Our study sheds new light on a central topic in the study of policy changes and agenda‐setting, and provides quantitative evidence difficult to obtain under conventional empirical frameworks.
APSR — pp. 1-19 2026-03-03 Original Initiate and Elevate! How Political Parties Can Set an Agenda
DANIEL SANDVEJ ERIKSEN
Abstract
The study of political agenda setting is a cornerstone in political science. Within this literature, political parties are implicitly portrayed as being capable of proactively initiating discussions. However, this fundamental notion of party agency deserves further theoretical and empirical attention. In response, this article crafts a new model (the Issue Initiation Model) that opens the window into parties’ efforts to set an agenda and traces how they initiate and elevate their agenda. The model is tested on an original dataset covering more than 5.5-million tweets by political parties and MPs, coupled with over 750,000 news articles and 419,000 parliamentary questions in the United Kingdom and Denmark from 2015 to 2022. Results show how parties and their MPs can proactively redirect the attention of other actors through strategic planning and orchestrated actions. By theorizing and empirically testing the implicit notion that parties can proactively initiate discussions, this article has important implications for political agenda setting.