Can Celebrities Set the Agenda?

Abstract

Why do some issues make it on to the public agenda while others do not? While this question has received a great deal of research attention, a definitive answer remains elusive. In this paper, I conduct a posttest only, control group survey experiment to test the hypothesis that popular celebrities can increase the chances that an issue jumps from the media agenda to the public agenda by speaking out publicly about the importance of the issue. My results confirm the hypothesis. By “spotlighting” certain issues, popular celebrities can indeed affect which issues reach the public agenda.