Network Agenda Setting, Partisan Selective Exposure, and Opinion Repertoire: The Effects of Pro- and Counter-Attitudinal Media in Hong Kong

Abstract

Abstract Using data from a content analysis of partisan media and a public opinion survey administered in Hong Kong, this study incorporates selective exposure and deliberation literature into the network agenda-setting (NAS) model to test media effects on people’s perception of the relationship between Hong Kong and mainland China. This study advances the NAS literature by examining the effects of different media types (i.e., pro- and counter-attitudinal media), considering the patterns of media consumption (i.e., engagement in selective exposure or not), and differentiating between the NAS effects on one’s own opinion repertoire and the oppositional opinion repertoire (i.e., thoughts about how oppositional others perceive the issue). The findings of the study demonstrate that the network agenda of pro-attitudinal media was significantly correlated with both one’s own and oppositional opinion repertoires for those who engaged in partisan selective exposure. For those who did not engage in partisan selective exposure, the network agenda of counter-attitudinal media was significantly related to the oppositional opinion repertoire and the findings for one’s own opinion repertoire were mixed.