Tracing the Impact of Media Relations and Television Coverage on U.S. Charitable Relief Fundraising: An Application of Agenda-Setting Theory across Three Natural Disasters Richard D. Waters School of Management, University of San Francisco Fundraising practitioners have often expressed the desire to gain media coverage of their nonprofit organization because it will result in increased donations. Although this folklore is commonly believed by many fundraisers, there is little evidence to support this claim. This study uses the agenda-setting theory as the framework to test whether television news coverage of 3 natural disasters and the nonprofit organizations working to provide charitable relief in wake of the events results in increased donations to the nonprofit organizations. Using the 2004 Asian tsunami, 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, and the 2010 Haitian earthquake to test the public’s response to relief efforts, the study found little support for increased donations to the 5 leading organizations providing relief in relation to gen- eric news coverage of the disasters. However, when the organizations were specifically mentioned by reporters in the newscasts, noticeable same-day spikes were seen in donations to the organizations’ fundraising efforts. Similarly, when organizations were able to place spokespeople in the newscast to talk about their efforts, increased donations resulted from these proactive media relations efforts. As 2004 ended, one of the strongest earthquakes on record occurred along the floor of the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami devastated 14 nations’ coastlines and killed more than 250,000 people from these nations and tourists from 54 other countries around the globe. Less than 9 months later, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast from central Florida to Texas, causing more than $108 billion in damage and causing 1,833 confirmed fatalities. In January, 2010, the island nation of Haiti was rocked by an earthquake measuring seven on the Richter scale, which government estimates claim resulted in 316,000 deaths and the destruction of 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial and government buildings. Despite the widespread geographic distance between these three locations and the causes of the damage, these three natural disasters share one thing in common: Within hours of the events, nonprofit organizations began raising funds so they could provide immediate humanitarian aid to those in need. Annually, Americans donate close to $300 billion to nonprofit organizations. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Americans gave $1.6 billion in cash in the year following the 2004 Asian tsunamis, $3.3 billion to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, and $1.4 billion to the 2010 Haitian earthquake response. More than 130 nonprofit organizations raised funds Correspondence should be sent to Richard D. Waters, PhD, University of San Francisco, School of Management, 2130 Fulton Street, San Franc ...

1. Tracing the Impact of Media Relations and
Television Coverage on U.S. Charitable
Relief Fundraising: An Application of Agenda-Setting
Theory across Three Natural Disasters
Richard D. Waters
School of Management, University of San Francisco
Fundraising practitioners have often expressed the desire to
gain media coverage of their nonprofit
organization because it will result in increased donations.
Although this folklore is commonly
believed by many fundraisers, there is little evidence to support
this claim. This study uses the
agenda-setting theory as the framework to test whether
television news coverage of 3 natural disasters
and the nonprofit organizations working to provide charitable
relief in wake of the events results in
increased donations to the nonprofit organizations. Using the
2004 Asian tsunami, 2005’s Hurricane
Katrina, and the 2010 Haitian earthquake to test the public’s
response to relief efforts, the study found
little support for increased donations to the 5 leading

2. organizations providing relief in relation to gen-
eric news coverage of the disasters. However, when the
organizations were specifically mentioned by
reporters in the newscasts, noticeable same-day spikes were
seen in donations to the organizations’
fundraising efforts. Similarly, when organizations were able to
place spokespeople in the newscast
to talk about their efforts, increased donations resulted from
these proactive media relations efforts.
As 2004 ended, one of the strongest earthquakes on record
occurred along the floor of the Indian
Ocean. The resulting tsunami devastated 14 nations’ coastlines
and killed more than 250,000
people from these nations and tourists from 54 other countries
around the globe. Less than 9
months later, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast from central
Florida to Texas, causing more
than $108 billion in damage and causing 1,833 confirmed
fatalities. In January, 2010, the island
nation of Haiti was rocked by an earthquake measuring seven on
the Richter scale, which
government estimates claim resulted in 316,000 deaths and the
destruction of 250,000 residences
and 30,000 commercial and government buildings. Despite the

3. widespread geographic distance
between these three locations and the causes of the damage,
these three natural disasters share
one thing in common: Within hours of the events, nonprofit
organizations began raising funds so
they could provide immediate humanitarian aid to those in need.
Annually, Americans donate close to $300 billion to nonprofit
organizations. According to
the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Americans gave $1.6 billion in
cash in the year following the
2004 Asian tsunamis, $3.3 billion to 2005’s Hurricane Katrina
relief efforts, and $1.4 billion
to the 2010 Haitian earthquake response. More than 130
nonprofit organizations raised funds
Correspondence should be sent to Richard D. Waters, PhD,
University of San Francisco, School of Management,
2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94117-1080. E-mail:
[email protected]
Journal of Public Relations Research, 25: 329–346, 2013
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1062-726X print/1532-754X online
DOI: 10.1080/1062726X.2013.806870

4. to help with these national and international relief efforts;
however, the majority of the donations
went to a handful of organizations. Nearly one-third of the
donations Americans made to the
tsunami relief efforts went to the American Red Cross (Baker,
2005), which also collected nearly
43% of the donations sent to Haitian earthquake relief (Lieu,
2011). For all three of the natural
disasters, five organizations dominated lists of the top
fundraising nonprofits for the disaster
relief efforts: the American Red Cross, UNICEF, Catholic
Relief Services, World Vision, and
Doctors Without Borders.
Fundraising literature suggests that donors are more likely to
donate to organizations that
serve their communities (Philipp, 1999) and to programs and
services in which they are most
interested (Kelly, 1998). However, the emotional nature of
natural disasters stirs feelings of
urgency in the public, who seek ways to help the victims
(Waters, 2009). Donations to these
three disasters were received in record amounts, and numerous
organizations suspended their
fundraising efforts early because they had already met their
campaign goals.

5. After the 2004 Asian tsunami, nonprofit management scholars
questioned when the donations
would start falling off sharply (Hale, 2005). On the Association
for Research on Nonprofit
Organizations and Voluntary Action listserv, one member
commented:
Not surprisingly, it follows media coverage. But there’s a
trickle that come in (sic) for a long time
afterwards (come to think of it, just like media coverage). It’s
one of those things that people in
disaster relief fund raising know about, but I can’t find anything
publicly available. (Prives, 2005)
The notion that media coverage of the third sector would
generate increased donations is a
widely held perspective among fundraising practitioners.
Crosson (2005) noted that the
increased coverage of the tsunami would result in fewer
donations being made to African crises
because they could not capture the media’s attention.
Columnists at the Detroit Free Press and
the Christian Science Monitor (Wood, 2005) also questioned the
relationship of media coverage
and nonprofit donations.
Despite the wide interest in the topic, few studies have been
conducted to examine the

6. relationship between media coverage and nonprofit donations.
Thus, this study aims to fill that
void by using mass communication’s agenda-setting framework
to examine how strongly dona-
tions to the relief efforts for three separate natural disasters
were impacted by the media coverage
of the disasters and the five nonprofit organizations that raised
the most money for these relief
efforts. This will expand literature in nonprofit management by
empirically testing an assump-
tion held by fundraising practitioners. It will additionally
extend agenda-setting theory by
exploring it outside of a political communication context and
with behavioral (rather than
cognitive) level data.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Crisis Fundraising and Media Coverage
Kelly (1998) formally defined fundraising as ‘‘the management
of relationships between a chari-
table organization and its donor publics’’ (p. 8). The principal
goal of the profession is to build
strong relationships by developing trust with, and
communicating honestly with, donor publics

7. 330 WATERS
so that donors are likely to respond to charitable solicitations
when emergencies arise (Hall,
2002). Kelly (1998) stated that the main purpose of fundraising
‘‘is not to raise money, but
to help charitable organizations manage their interdependencies
with donor publics who share
mutual goals and objectives’’ (p. 9).
Paula DiPerna (2003), the president of the Chicago-based Joyce
Foundation, noted that fun-
draising generally is not newsworthy and that the only way to
turn it into news is to focus on
some unusual aspect of it. She also argued that news coverage
of national and international crises
and the emotions evoked from the events can elevate
fundraising into the media’s spotlight. In
the context of crises, newsworthiness also can arise from the
unusual nature of disasters, includ-
ing opportunities for reporting personal dramas (Stewart &
Hodgkinson, 1988), fascination with
horrific events (Payne, 1994), and the desire to help others
(Raphael, 1986).

8. When the need to help others is reinforced by media coverage of
disasters, donors indicate
that they are more likely to respond to crisis fundraising efforts
(Bennett & Kottasz, 2000).
The results of this investigation support the fundraising
practitioner literature, which suggests
that nonprofit organizations should also work with the media to
educate donors about the crisis
and provide them an opportunity to evaluate the need for
donations (Johnston, 2002).
Although Warwick, Hart, and Hallen (2002) focused on e-
philanthropy and linking to
respected media outlets covering nonprofit issues, their message
resonates for traditional giving,
as well. Nonprofit organizations should work to secure news
stories highlighting their programs
and services because qualitative interviews with donors
indicated that they were responsive to
news stories highlighting specific organizations and causes
(Bennett & Kottasz, 2000). Addition-
ally, Howard and Mathews (2006) indicated that organizations
could enhance their credibility by
addressing issues and crises during interviews and appearances
on news programming. For non-

9. profit organizations, these appearances can be used to highlight
their programs and create a sense
of urgency for donations and volunteers during times of crises.
Agenda-Setting Theory
Whether the relief donations come from traditional fundraising
practices or from new
e-philanthropy strategies, practitioner literature suggests that
fundraising efforts and media
coverage are intertwined. The mass communication theory of
agenda setting provides a theoreti-
cal perspective to test this popular belief. Bernard Cohen (1963)
originally stated that the news
media may not tell audiences what to think, but the media are
very successful at telling audiences
what to think about. In the past 30 years, mass communication
scholars have shown that the
media are quite successful in influencing public awareness of
topics; however, there have been
fewer studies demonstrating a correlation between news
coverage and behavioral change. This
study aims to fill that void by testing popular fundraising
folklore that people would donate to a
cause if they simply had more exposure to it.

10. McCombs and Shaw (1972) proposed the agenda-setting theory
after studying the 1968 Uni-
ted States presidential campaign, and the agenda-setting
paradigm has spread quickly. The
theory has expanded over the past 40 years to include multiple
levels of agenda setting. The first
level simply examines the perceived importance of an issue in
relation to its coverage in the
media. The second level takes the issues highlighted in the first
level and focuses on specific
attributes or dimensions of the issue being examined. Most
recently, the third level of agenda
CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 331
setting examines how the attributes highlighted in the second
level are conveyed in a tonal matter.
Applying these three levels to this study, the first level would
focus on the natural disasters that
occurred, and the second level would focus on referencing
specific nonprofit organizations work-
ing to provide charitable relief to the disaster victims. Finally,
the third level of agenda setting
would focus on whether the specific nonprofits are portrayed in

11. a positive or negative tone.
Although the seminal study on agenda setting focused on public
opinion and political
campaigning, mass communication scholars have applied the
theory to settings focusing on non-
profit issues, including environmental issues (D. Cohen, 1975),
civil rights discussions (Winter
& Eyal, 1981), and health issues (Durrant, Wakefield, McLeod,
Clegg-Smith, & Chapman,
2003). Media have been shown to have a positive correlation in
the coverage of issues and their
perceived importance by the public. Hundreds of studies have
confirmed the basic premise that
media salience of issues leads to increased salience of issues in
public opinion (McCombs,
2004). Therefore, this study’s first hypothesis examines the
relationship between news coverage
of natural disasters and their perceived importance by the
public:
H1: Media attention to the natural disasters will be positively
correlated to the public’s attention to
the event.
Although much of the agenda-setting literature focuses on the
public’s perceptions of the

12. importance of a particular topic, there have been a few studies
that have successfully shown that
media coverage can influence behavior. For example, Roberts
(1992) found that voting behavior
could be predicted based on the media’s coverage of election
issues, and Sutherland and Gallo-
way (1981) found an agenda-setting influence on the public’s
purchasing behavior after viewing
certain advertisements. More closely tied to nonprofit
organization missions, individuals who
paid close attention to news coverage of health-related items
were likely to change their beha-
viors to adopt a healthier lifestyle (Yanovitsky & Bennett,
1999), and individuals who actively
followed the announcement that Magic Johnson had HIV=AIDS
were more likely to be tested
for the disease (Wanta & Elliot, 1995).
The agenda-setting framework provides the ideal research
design to test fundraising practi-
tioners’ belief that news coverage of a social issue results in
donations to organizations address-
ing that cause. Because the top five organizations received
nearly two-thirds of the donations
made by the American public for the Asian tsunami, Hurricane

13. Katrina, and Haitian earthquake
relief efforts, examining their efforts in relation to media
coverage reflects many of the
behavior-oriented agenda-setting studies. By comparing the
organizations’ daily receipt totals
against the media coverage, it is possible to test the second
hypothesis, which posits that media
coverage influences donations to the top fundraising
organizations for the relief efforts:
H2: Media attention to the three natural disasters will be
positively correlated to the donations
received by the five nonprofit organizations for their relief
efforts.
Bennett and Kottasz (2000) found that British citizens indicated
that they were more likely to
respond to crisis relief efforts when they learned about the
assistance through the news media.
Even though the focus on crisis response is the delivery of aid
and supplies, nonprofits should
not overlook the importance of media relations efforts. Positive
working relationships with
media outlets can be used to leverage placement in the media,
but to do so they must have
332 WATERS

14. an understanding of media deadlines, of the kind of stories that
would appeal to journalists, and
of knowing how to communicate and respond to journalists’
inquiries (Yoon, 2005).
The connection between charitable giving and the nonprofit
organizations’ media relations
efforts can be analyzed through the application of the second-
level of agenda setting, which
examines the saliency of objects covered in the news. For this
study, those objects are the orga-
nizations collecting charitable relief donations. The presentation
of specific nonprofit organiza-
tions may have a strong influence on which organizations
receive contributions from the public.
Although principally tested with political objects, second-level
agenda setting should also have
applications in other contexts. For example, McCombs (2004)
noted that agenda setting’s core
theoretical proposition deals with the transfer of saliency of
elements from one agenda to
another, not just political issues.
To test this notion, a third hypothesis was created to examine

15. the relationship between the
media’s presentation of the top five recipients of charitable
gifts to the relief efforts and their
daily receipt totals:
H3: Media coverage that highlights an organization’s natural
disaster relief efforts will be positively
correlated to the donations received by that organization.
Increasingly, agenda-setting theory studies are examining how
specific objects are portrayed
in the media. In explicating the second-level of agenda setting,
Ghanem (1997) compared this
element of agenda setting to the media’s ability to frame an
issue to highlight certain dimensions
over others. Similarly, Hallahan (1999) felt that the angle from
which a journalist presents the
news story has the ability to leave the audience with either a
flattering or derogatory view of
the topic based on the tone of the article.
This potential portrayal reflects what McCombs and Yu (2005)
call the third-level of agenda
setting, which allows the media to transfer positive or negative
tones on specific topics. Public
relations practitioners frequently work with organizational

16. spokespeople to prepare them for
working with the media so that the information shared and
representation of the organization
creates a positive image for the audience. In many cases, such
as these three natural disasters,
organizational spokespeople are often interviewed during news
broadcasts to provide the most
up-to-date information. Howard and Mathews (2006) noted that
the presence of an organiza-
tional representative enhances both the credibility of the
organization and the importance of
the news story. Additionally, they argue that the presence of
spokespersons conveys the urgency
and importance of crisis situations.
Schenkler and Herrling (2003) agreed that having organizational
spokespeople present infor-
mation on the nightly news can be very positive for an
organization. However, media relations
efforts are rarely simply an information subsidy. Although
spokespersons may be able to deliver
a prepared positive sound bite, they must also be able to
respond to reporters’ questions. Yoon
(2005) noted that experience and media training can prepare
individuals for interviewing, but

17. having well-established relationships with reporters can also
help an organization receive
positive coverage, especially when facing breaking news
situations.
Because it is unknown whether the presence of nonprofit
spokespeople helps or hinders their
organizations’ efforts to secure positive media stories about
relief efforts, it is difficult to test
directionally for the third level of agenda setting with a formal
hypothesis. However, it is poss-
ible to test the third level of agenda setting with a research
question that assesses whether the
CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 333
presence of a spokesperson in a news story influences the
public’s response to charitable relief
efforts. In this manner, the third level of agenda setting is tested
to determine whether the
spokesperson is able to convey a specific tone in relation to his
or her organization’s relief
efforts. The study’s only research question follows:
RQ1: Does media coverage featuring an organizational
spokesperson positively correlate to the

18. donations received by the five nonprofit organizations for their
disaster relief efforts?
METHOD
Ultimately, this report presents the findings of three separate
agenda-setting studies conducted in
wake of the 2004 tsunami, 2005 hurricane, and 2010 earthquake.
A similar research design was
carried out for all three natural disasters so that comparisons
could be made across the three
events. For each individual study, a longitudinal time-series
design was used to track the impact
of television coverage of the disasters on the public’s attention
to the post-disaster relief efforts
and donations made to the organizations conducting those
efforts. For each disaster, television
coverage was analyzed for 6 weeks following the natural
disaster. This time range was chosen
primarily because it represented all of the fundraising data that
the Center of Philanthropy at
Indiana University made available to the public for the three
disasters. After 6 weeks of reporting
daily fundraising totals for the three events, the Center stopped
providing updated daily totals

19. and returned to its normal, day-to-day operations. The time
increment used for this project
was 1 day, which permitted a precise measurement of time lags
to measure the agenda-setting
impact with a sufficient sample size of days for statistical
purposes.
Media Content
A content analysis of television broadcast news stories was
conducted to gauge media attention
given to the three natural disasters. All of the news
programming on the three major networks
(ABC, CBS, NBC) and three selected cable outlets (MSNBC,
CNN, Fox News) were chosen for
the analysis to examine the impact of 24-hr news coverage on
potential donors. To obtain the
universe of stories, a Lexis-Nexis database search was
conducted using the keywords tsunami,
Hurricane Katrina, or earthquake and Haiti in the main headline
or news lead. After receiving
the totals for the six media outlets, a random sample of the
transcribed-stories was taken.
One-third of all coverage was taken from each outlet, reflecting
Neuendorf’s (2002) best prac-
tices for sampling archived news media. For the tsunami,
hurricane, and earthquake disasters,

20. 471, 683, and 524 stories, respectively, were generated from the
sampling. The stories were ana-
lyzed to ensure that the search produced results that were
actually focused on the disasters.
Public Attention
For the first hypothesis, the research used national public polls
to correspond with the national
television coverage used in the content analysis. The desired
goal was to measure the attention
the public paid to the disasters with the prevalence of news
stories on these topics. For elections
334 WATERS
and political controversies, national public opinion polls
frequently ask questions akin to ‘‘How
closely have you been following the news about a specific
event—very closely, somewhat clo-
sely, not too closely, or not at all?’’ After examining the polls
and database section of
Lexis-Nexis and a variety of other academic databases, it was
determined that the public was
rarely polled about these three events, especially the Asian
tsunami and Haitian earthquake. Poll-

21. sters from Gallup and Fox News did provide polls that measured
responses to Hurricane Katrina.
Because of the limited data concerning the perceived
importance of the Asian tsunami (3 polls),
Hurricane Katrina (8 polls), and the Haitian earthquake (4
polls), it was necessary to combine the
data across all three crises to measure the relationship between
the perceived importance and
media coverage. Even with the data combined, the number of
data points measuring perceived
importance was relatively small. However, Pearson’s
correlations were able to be calculated
comparing the number of news stories focusing on the natural
disaster in the previous week
to the level of public agreement that the natural disaster was
important news.
Fundraising Data
In the 6 weeks following each of the three disasters, the Center
for Philanthropy at Indiana Uni-
versity published daily updated contribution totals of the
charitable contributions for relief
efforts received by more than 130 nonprofit organizations.
These totals included confirmed cash
contributions, total confirmed in-kind donations, and total

22. corporate and foundation giving to
relief efforts. Given that the daily totals were provided, it is
possible to examine whether media
coverage on the disasters had a prompt impact on the public. It
was decided that this level of
time-lag was appropriate for this study, given previous disaster
fundraising studies that found
evidence that members of the public often avoided news stories
about disasters after first hearing
about the events (Waters, 2009).
For purposes of this study, the only data analyzed are the daily
totals for the top five fundrais-
ing organizations (the American Red Cross, Doctors Without
Borders, Catholic Relief Services,
World Vision, and UNICEF). Information for other prominent
organizations, such as Save the
Children and the Salvation Army, would have been included in
the analysis individually if more
complete data were available. The Center for Philanthropy’s
information did not have updated
data for every organization during every release of the daily
totals. For this reason, the large
number of missing data points made statistical analysis for these
organizations unreliable. For

23. example, the top five organizations had donation totals
available for all 42 days but the Salvation
Army, which had the next most complete information, had
information for only 19 days.
Nonprofit Organizations in the Media
The sample of televised news stories was coded for several
different attributes, including the
presence of nonprofit organizations, their spokespersons, and
story tone. When nonprofit orga-
nizations were mentioned by name, this information was
recorded in an open-ended question.
Additionally, the stories were coded for the presence of
spokespersons. If an official represen-
tative of the organization (the President=Chief Executive
Officer, member of the Board of Direc-
tors, or someone from the communication department) was
interviewed or featured during the
story, this was noted in the analysis. Given the large number of
organizations raising funds
CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 335
for the relief efforts, it was felt that highlighting an
organization during the newscast represented

24. a successful media relations effort. Although this measure of
media relations does not take into
account organizational news releases or media pitching efforts,
it is felt that inclusion of any
organization in a broadcast reflects at least a minimal media
relations effort in that the organi-
zation agreed and participated in an interview for the news
story. A nonprofit organization that
ignored media requests for interviews or failed to follow
through with participation would have
not had an active media relations program.
Although participating in interviews is only one measure of
media relations, it should be
noted that reliance on media relations tactics (e.g., news
releases) does not take into consider-
ation those situations where organizations are contacted directly
by the media without having
first submitted materials to the media. Given the nature of crisis
situations, it is not uncommon
for the media to contact organizations before they have
materials ready to be distributed
(DiPerna, 2003). For this reason, inclusion of an organizational
spokesperson—especially in
natural disaster situations—is an appropriate measure of media

25. relations.
Two individuals coded the sample. After a 2-hr training session,
10% of the sample was
coded. Intercoder reliability scores, using Scott’s p to take
chance agreement into consideration,
were calculated for all variables, including nonprofit
organizations mentioned (p ¼ .88), whether
the news story featured a nonprofit spokesperson (p ¼ .91), and
tone of the news story (p ¼ .90).
Additional variables not used in the agenda-setting statistical
tests were also coded and found to
be reliable between the coders, including media outlet (p ¼ .98)
and date of news story (p ¼ .97).
Time Lags
To test the agenda-setting power of the media, it was necessary
to test the relationship between
media coverage and charitable donations with multiple time
lags. In previous agenda-setting
research, the range of optimal time lags has varied considerably,
and scholars have argued that
the determination of which time lag to use often rests in the
context of the study (Meraz, 2011;
Wanta & Hu, 1994). Manyena (2012) specifically focused on the
exploration of time lags in an
examination of the consequences of time lags in relation to
natural disasters. The study proposes

26. that because natural disasters receive a lot of media attention
after occurring and begins to wane
in the weeks after the event, it is important to examine the
impact of time lags as frequently as
possible, rather than extending the time lag to weeks. Similarly,
the quickly unfolding and fre-
quently updating information concerning natural disasters
makes it probable that one day’s news
may have an impact that day, but it may be out-of-date the
following day (Uscinski, 2009). For
these reasons, this study uses a one-day time lag to test its
hypotheses and research question.
Given the daily updates of data concerning contributions to the
three disaster relief efforts, it
was deemed appropriate to use a 1-day lag that was measured
for an entire week (e.g., the cor-
relation of Sunday’s news stories on Monday’s updated total
and repeatedly correlated against
the remaining 6 days of the week). In other words, media
coverage was tracked up to 7 days
prior to the Center of Philanthropy’s updated reported
fundraising totals.
RESULTS
Television coverage of the three natural disasters varied

27. considerably by news outlet, with a
wide variance of coverage on both the network and cable
outlets. Between the six broadcast
336 WATERS
and cable networks (ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, and
NBC), the random sample
included 471 stories about the 2004 tsunami, 683 stories about
Hurricane Katrina in 2005,
and 524 stories about the 2010 Haitian earthquake. A trend
developed from the reporting of
all three natural disasters. The number of stories increased
steadily after the disasters happened,
reaching a climax in the second or third week, which gradually
started decreasing in the remain-
ing weeks that were examined. This inverse parabola shape held
true for all three disasters.
Testing the study’s first hypothesis could not be done
individually for each of the three natu-
ral disasters because there were insufficient data points that
focused on the public’s perceived
value of importance of each of the three events as a news story.
There were three public opinion

28. polls taken focusing on the Asian tsunami, eight taken about
Hurricane Katrina, and four that
centered on the Haitian earthquake. An attempt to correlate the
percentage of respondents in
each survey who felt that the natural disaster was an important
or somewhat important news
story and the corresponding number of news stories about the
disaster that happened in the pre-
ceding week was attempted; however, it produced unreliable
results for the tsunami (r ¼ .42,
p ¼ .36), hurricane (r ¼ .68, p ¼ .031), and earthquake (r ¼ .78,
p ¼ .11). Given the low number
of data points individually, the public opinion poll data was
aggregated into one test of corre-
lation across all three events, given that the initial tests all
measured the correlation of the pub-
lic’s perceived importance of the natural disaster with the
amount of news coverage it received in
the preceding week. When the 15 polls and the news coverage
data were combined, there were a
sufficient number of pairs to conduct a Pearson’s correlation
test (Wimmer & Dominick, 2006).
The resulting correlation (r ¼ .64, p ¼ .005) indicates that there
is a moderate-to-strong relation-
ship between the public’s perceived importance of the natural
disasters and the amount of news
coverage the events received. Thus, hypothesis one was

29. supported.
The study’s second hypothesis tested the behavioral component
of the agenda-setting theory
and predicted that media coverage of the three disasters would
be positively correlated to the
donations received by the nonprofit sector for its relief efforts.
However, there was only partial
support for this hypothesis. As shown in Table 1, there was an
immediate agenda setting impact
that weakened slightly for the American Red Cross and Doctors
Without Borders across the
three disasters. For example, news stories about the 2004
tsunami did appear to correspond to
the same-day donation totals that were reported by the Red
Cross (Spearman’s q ¼ .50,
p ¼ .03) and Doctors Without Borders (Spearman’s q ¼ .39, p ¼
.047). UNICEF also experi-
enced an increase in donations to its charitable relief efforts for
Hurricane Katrina (Spearman’s
q ¼ .43, p ¼ .031) and the Haitian earthquake (Spearman’s q ¼
.53, p ¼ .026), but it news stories
about the Asian tsunami did not impact its fundraising efforts
(Spearman’s q ¼ .14, p ¼ .76).
Moving beyond the 1-day lag to examine the overall impact of
the news stories that focused
on the natural disasters reveals an interesting pattern for the

30. American Red Cross and, to a lesser
extent, for Doctors Without Borders. News stories about the
tsunami, hurricane, and earthquake
continued to have an impact on donations made to the American
Red Cross in the days after they
aired. Although the days varied in terms of the positive impact
experienced for the two organiza-
tions (2–4 days for American Red Cross, 2–3 days for Doctors
Without Borders), news stories
focusing on the natural disasters had a lingering impact on their
charitable relief totals.
Looking at individual disasters, Table 1 shows that news stories
about the Asian tsunami did
not result in increased donations to UNICEF, Catholic Relief
Services, or World Vision. Like-
wise, news stories about Hurricane Katrina did not result in
increased donations to Catholic
Relief Services or World Vision, even though they did for the
remaining three organizations.
CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 337
Catholic Relief Services was the only nonprofit that did not
receive a boost in its fundraising to

31. the Haitian earthquake in response to media coverage about the
general event.
The third hypothesis tested the second level of the agenda-
setting theory and predicted that
donations to an organization’s relief efforts would be positively
correlated to news stories that
highlighted the nonprofit organization. This hypothesis was
supported, to some extent, for all
five of the organizations across all three natural disasters. Using
the 2004 tsunami as an example,
when the American Red Cross (42 references), UNICEF (24),
Catholic Relief Services (14),
World Vision (19), or Doctors Without Borders (18) were
mentioned during news stories about
the tsunami, they experienced a surge of donations following
the stories.
Continuing to highlight the study’s findings by using the 2004
tsunami as an example, Table 2
shows that there was a very strong correlation between media
coverage and same-day donation
totals that continued to show a moderate positive correlation as
the days progressed for the
American Red Cross (Spearman’s q ¼ .59, p ¼ .009) and
Catholic Relief Services (Spearman’s
q ¼ .59, p ¼ .009). UNICEF (Spearman’s q ¼ .38, p ¼ .046)

32. and Doctors Without Borders
(Spearman’s q ¼ .39, p ¼ .047) experienced an influx of
donations on the day following stories
that highlighted their relief efforts.
It is interesting to note that World Vision (Spearman’s q ¼ .51,
p ¼ .028), Doctors Without
Borders, and UNICEF, along with the American Red Cross,
reported increased donations that
continued in the days following the news coverage. As shown in
Table 2, similar patterns
emerged when the time-lag correlations were conducted for the
five organizations’ daily
TABLE 1
Correlation Between Generic Television Coverage of Three
Natural Disasters and Donations Made to the
Leading Nonprofit Organizations’ Relief Efforts
Television coverage precedes donations
�6 �5 �4 �3 �2 �1 0 Day-Lag
2004 Asian tsunami
American Red Cross �.06 .10 .19 .26 .39� .42� .50�
UNICEF �.02 �.18 �.26 �.01 �.14 .04 .14
Catholic Relief Services �.43� �.39� �.25 �.16 �.35 �.08
�.12
World Vision �.19 �.28 �.21 �.06 .03 .14 .25
Doctors Without Borders �.12 �.17 �.05 .15 .21 .33 .39�

33. 2005 Hurricane Katrina
American Red Cross .07 .18 .22 .39� .45� .62�� .89���
UNICEF �.01 .04 .15 .22 .32 .38� .43�
Catholic Relief Services �.21 �.09 �.08 �.03 .05 .18 .21
World Vision �.18 �.07 .02 .09 .22 .20 .29
Doctors without Borders �.12 �.10 �.07 .04 .23 .39� .48�
2010 Haitian earthquake
American Red Cross .12 .15 .28 .37� .55� .72�� .76��
UNICEF �.08 .02 .15 .23 .30 .39� .53�
Catholic Relief Services �.30 �.21 �.06 .08 .13 .24 .32
World Vision .05 .08 .13 .21 .29 .36 .44�
Doctors without Borders .04 .07 .09 .24 .37� .48� .69��
�p < .05. ��p < .01. ���p < .001.
338 WATERS
fundraising totals and the daily news coverage they received in
wake of Hurricane Katrina and
the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Although the strongest statistical
significance continued to be
found for the American Red Cross across the time lags, each
organization had a statistically
greater number of charitable donations being contributed by the
public after they were specifi-

34. cally named in news stories. Therefore, support was garnered
for the third hypothesis. There was
an agenda-setting behavioral effect that was not simply limited
to immediate reactions to the
news coverage; for some nonprofits, the behavioral effect held
over for multiple days following
the news reports.
The study’s research question attempted to test the third level of
agenda setting by asking
whether the presence of an organizational spokesperson from
the five nonprofit organizations
would result in increased donations to that organization. It
should be noted that, for these stories,
an additional Chi-square test was carried out to determine
whether the inclusion of an organiza-
tional spokesperson was more likely to indicate that the news
story had a positive tone; this test
strengthened the connection to the third-level of agenda setting
as it was found that the spokes-
people were found to be in more positive than neutral or
negative stories (v2 ¼ 202.68, df ¼ 2,
p < .001). For the 2004 tsunami, representatives from American
Red Cross had 19 appearances
in news stories; the remaining organizations also had multiple
appearances: UNICEF (11), Cath-

35. olic Relief Services (8), World Vision (12), and Doctors
Without Borders (8). A similar pattern
was present for Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake as
the American Red Cross gen-
erated the most media coverage and spokesperson opportunities;
Catholic Relief Services had
TABLE 2
Correlation Between Television Coverage Mentioning Specified
Nonprofit Organizations and Donations Made
to those Organizations’ Relief Efforts
Television coverage precedes donations
�6 �5 �4 �3 �2 �1 0 Day-Lag
2004 Asian tsunami
American Red Cross �.45� �.21 .28 .36 .00 .44� .59��
UNICEF �.09 �.29 .19 �.34 �.29 .56� .38�
Catholic Relief Services �.38� .01 �.08 �.12 .23 .35 .59��
World Vision �.19 �21 �.10 �.11 .35 .51� .14
Doctors Without Borders �.39� �.35 �.30 �.18 .56� .43�
.39�
2005 Hurricane Katrina
American Red Cross .24 .35 .42� .49� .63�� .83���
.95���
UNICEF .04 .11 .19 .21 .34 .41� .54�

36. Catholic Relief Services .02 �.03 .08 .06 .09 .24 .42�
World Vision .03 .14 .16 .21 .25 .38� .32
Doctors Without Borders .04 .10 .19 .33� .45� .48� .52�
2010 Haitian earthquake
American Red Cross .19 .23 .37� .48� .62�� .74�� .85���
UNICEF .11 .02 .23 .21 .28 .43� .57�
Catholic Relief Services .00 .09 .14 .21 .28 .33 .39�
World Vision .03 .12 .15 .26 .35 .39� .47�
Doctors Without Borders �.02 .09 .18 .20 .39� .54� .73��
�p < .05. ��p < .01. ���p < .001.
CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 339
the least. This research question was supported with the
strongest statistical support of all of the
studies’ inquiries.
As Table 3 shows, very few of the organizations experienced a
same-day increase in dona-
tions after their spokespeople appeared in newscasts. Only the
American Red Cross experienced
same-day boosts after news coverage of all three natural
disasters. Doctors Without Borders was

37. the only other organization to receive the same-day gains based
on the media coverage they
received after the Haitian earthquake (Spearman’s q ¼ .41, p ¼
.032). Interestingly, all five orga-
nizations across all three disasters received increased funds in
the days following their spokes-
persons’ appearances in news stories. The American Red Cross
(Spearman’s q ¼ .56, p ¼ .010)
and Doctors Without Borders had the biggest boost in their
charitable relief donations; however,
all of the organizations experienced these increases. As shown
in Table 3, a similar trend
emerged across all three natural disasters in that having a
spokesperson representing the organi-
zation during the news story helped lead to increased donations
to the organization’s charitable
relief efforts. The continued support in the days following the
spokespersons’ appearances did
not last as long for UNICEF or Catholic Relief Services;
however, correlations demonstrated that
there was a statistically significant increase in their donations
in the short-term following their
appearances in the news.
The time lags across the three natural disasters found support
for the third level of agenda

38. setting; that is, the tone of media coverage of specific attributes
(e.g., specific nonprofits repre-
sented by their spokespeople in this case) were transferred from
the media coverage to the
TABLE 3
Correlation Between Television Coverage Featuring Nonprofit
Organizations’ Spokespersons and Donations
Made to those Organizations’ Relief Efforts
Television coverage precedes donations
�6 �5 �4 �3 �2 �1 0 Day-Lag
2004 Asian tsunami
American Red Cross �.02 �.28 .14 .01 .76�� .87��� .39�
UNICEF �.37� �.07 �.05 .01 .42� .75��� .04
Catholic Relief Services �.33 .11 .02 .00 .52�� .56�� �.11
World Vision �.19 .–10 �.13 .39� .41� .68��� �.21
Doctors Without Borders �.27 �.31 �.09 �.23 .42� .76���
�.29
2005 Hurricane Katrina
American Red Cross �.03 .12 .19 .42� .68�� .85��� .54��
UNICEF .–.21 �.07 .06 .28 .40� .45� .20
Catholic Relief Services �.18 �.04 .03 .10 .20 .39� .31
World Vision �.06 .10 .13 .24 .37� .51� .19
Doctors Without Borders �.21 �.03 .12 .27 .35 .58�� .35
2010 Haitian earthquake

39. American Red Cross .17 .26 .40� .53�� .66�� .79���
.56��
UNICEF .02 .10 .19 .31 .32 .38� .31
Catholic Relief Services �.05 .03 .18 .28 .39� .46� .23
World Vision �.14 .07 .21 .24 .29 .39� ..32
Doctors Without Borders .08 .13 .15 .32 .45� .64�� .41�
�p < .05. ��p < .01. ���p < .001.
340 WATERS
public’s mind based on the greater contributions from the public
as reported by the nonprofits
after their news appearances.
DISCUSSION
The results of this study provide partial support for fundraising
practitioners’ beliefs that news
coverage of charitable issues, specifically natural disasters,
would generate donations for their
organizations. None of the study’s hypotheses were rejected
outright, and the research question
found positive support for third-level agenda setting. Testing
the case of donations to the three
natural disaster crisis relief efforts, this study found that simple
coverage of the event showed no

40. correlation with reported daily donation totals except for the
American Red Cross and Doctors
Without Borders, organizations that raised roughly one-half of
all the total relief effort donated
to the 130 organizations that responded to the three disasters
with fundraising initiatives.
However, when nonprofit organizations were mentioned in the
news stories, donations to
their relief efforts increased. Correlations demonstrated that the
response from the public was
even greater when an organizational spokesperson was
interviewed during the news story. Test-
ing the second level of agenda setting, it was shown that the
mere mention of nonprofit organiza-
tions by name helped bring in more donations to their relief
efforts for all five of these
organizations. When their media spokespeople were interviewed
and participated in the stories,
they were generally able to convey positive messages about the
organization. This test of the
third level of agenda setting demonstrated the power of framing
issues. In this case, the positive
messages from the spokespeople were relayed to the public, who
then acted on these messages

41. by rewarding the nonprofits for their good deeds.
For fundraisers, these findings echo practitioner folklore that
praises the power of the media
in relation to gaining financial support from the public. The
significant statistical correlations
between news coverage and donations to charitable relief efforts
provide evidence beyond gen-
eral public survey findings that news stories impact how natural
disasters are viewed by the pub-
lic and how they respond to them (Bennett & Kottasz, 2000).
Johnston’s (2002) encouragement
that nonprofit organizations leaders work closely with the media
to advance their cause and
secure funding from the public can also find validation in the
study’s findings.
Perhaps most interesting for the study’s research question was
the lack of statistical support
for a same-day increase in donations in response to
organizational spokespersons’ appearances
in newscasts. With the exception of the American Red Cross in
all three disasters and Doctors
Without Borders after the Haitian earthquake, none of the
remaining organizations saw same-day

42. donation increases stemming from their appearances in
newscasts. However, they all experi-
enced increased donations in the first and second day following
those appearances.
This delayed increase hints at the organizations’ ongoing
fundraising efforts in wake of the
disasters. It is not uncommon for organizations to take video
and sound bites from these news-
casts and weave them into e-mail blasts and social media
campaigns designed to perpetuate the
coverage of the organization and encourage others to contribute
who may not have seen the live
newscasts (Waters & Tindall, 2011).
In follow-up exchanges with fundraising directors at the
national headquarters of three of the
five organizations, I discovered that Doctors Without Borders,
UNICEF, and World Vision all
used their appearances in national media in various
communication opportunities to their
CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 341
existing supporters. Whether by highlighting the appearances on
blogs or e-mail blasts, the orga-

43. nizations were persistent in maximizing the reach of their media
appearances. Just as Warwick
et al. (2002) advocated linking mainstream media with
electronic media, three of the five
nonprofits under examination followed their guidance and saw
increased donations to their
charitable relief efforts.
For fundraisers, this study shows the importance of testing
widely held beliefs. Contrary to
practitioner folklore, simple coverage of an issue does not
correspond to the donations given
to that issue unless the organization is the unquestionable leader
of that cause. For the three dis-
asters, the American Red Cross raised at least one-third, and up
to one-half, of all the relief dona-
tions that were made in wake of the natural disasters. Based on
the organization’s history in
responding to crises in the United States and abroad, there is
little doubt that the Red Cross
is one of the most prepared organizations for responding to
crises. News coverage of natural
disasters boosted donations to this organization but not to
others.
For nonprofit organizations that are not the recognized leader in

44. their area of focus, it is
important to note that this study found that participating in
news helped generate more dona-
tions for the organizations. Relying on media coverage alone
will not boost donations to a
nonprofit organization. It takes a proactive media relations
effort to foster an environment that
encourages donations to flow into campaign coffers. As Wenger
and Quarantelli (1989)
pointed out, the news media can be used to educate people about
crises, but they can be used
for much more.
It is important to note that this study does not purport causation
between mentions of non-
profit organizations or appearances by organizational
spokespersons in the news stories and
donations to the nonprofits. Statistically significant correlations
from archived data from the
Center of Philanthropy and Lexis-Nexis does not provide
evidence that the members of the pub-
lic who saw the news stories felt that the natural disasters were
important situations that war-
ranted support; nor do the correlations prove that seeing a
nonprofit organization highlighted

45. in news stories would result in donations from the public.
Without an experimental environment,
the causation cannot be proven; however, this study follows
previous agenda-setting studies that
demonstrate a correlation between news coverage and the
public’s attitudes. This study advances
agenda-setting theory by providing evidence of a correlation
between news coverage and public
behavior in a non-political setting.
Nonetheless, the study highlights the importance of media
relations efforts. Yoon (2005)
maintained that organizations cannot simply view media
relations activities as information sub-
sidies. Nonprofit practitioners must be knowledgeable about
working with the media so that they
respond to inquiries in a professional and timely manner.
Proactive media relations certainly
involve the preparation and distribution of news releases, media
kits, and other appropriate tac-
tics; however, reactive media relations—especially when done
in the context of unpredictable
natural disasters and crises—weigh equally in the
communications toolkit. Despite facing issues

46. involving the collection and mobilization of relief aid, nonprofit
practitioners must be willing to
dedicate time and resources to working with the media. Truly
prepared practitioners will develop
a solid understanding of the media’s operations and how
journalists work. Hiring a public rela-
tions firm to conduct a media training session simply will not
suffice, and mastering the prep-
aration of a sound bite will only go so far when dealing with
crises. Organizations must develop
relationships with reporters so that they understand how to work
with the reporters requesting
information and interviews.
342 WATERS
The study’s results show an agenda-setting influence of the
media on the public’s perceived
importance and charitable behavior. That is to say, there was an
increase in the attention that the
public paid to the natural disaster as the number of media
stories increased. There was also a
demonstrable correlation between the news coverage of
organizations and the public’s resulting

47. behavior of sending money to disaster relief efforts. In most
agenda-setting studies, there is
ample evidence looking at issue salience in the public; however,
instances providing support
for a behavioral component are much less common. Data for
this study held a reverse pattern.
Limited data was available to examine issue salience among the
public because of the lack of
public opinion polling conducted in relation to these three
natural disasters. However, there
was ample evidence supporting an agenda-setting impact on the
public’s behavior. When non-
profit organizations were able to get their organization on the
media’s agenda, they were able to
detail what the organization was doing and how they were using
charitable gifts. The data
collected show that there was a strong correlation between news
coverage of the organization
and the donations received by the organization immediately
after that coverage.
CONCLUSION
By showing a connection between news coverage, media
appearances, and charitable giving,
this study provides insight into how nonprofit organizations can

48. improve their fundraising
efforts. Although fundraisers often say that news coverage
guides donations to charitable causes,
this test did not show such correlation except for the dominant
organization in global disaster
relief efforts. Instead, the results of this study show that
organizations would be better served
by focusing their attention on working with news media to
secure coverage of the organization.
Whether these appearances come from proactive (e.g.,
distribution and follow-up of news
releases) or reactive media relations efforts (e.g., responding to
media inquiries with interviews
and information), the result of the increased work for nonprofit
fundraisers is likely to be
increased charitable contributions.
Limitations of the Study
This study focused on three natural disasters that impacted very
different geographic regions of
the world: Southeast Asia, the Gulf Coast of the United States,
and the Caribbean islands.
Results of the news coverage content analysis showed that the
closer the disaster was to the Uni-

49. ted States, the more media space was given to the disaster.
Therefore, it is possible that geogra-
phy plays an important role that was not truly accounted for in
this study. Another limitation that
must be addressed concerns the magnitude of these three events.
As discussed in the introduc-
tion, these three disasters caused substantial loss of life and
damage to physical property. The
emotional impact and devastation caused by the disasters is
unlike typical nonprofit organization
missions. As such, the correlation between news coverage and
charitable donations may not
extend to other nonprofit issues.
Additionally, this study only looked at the top five fundraising
organizations for those relief
efforts. Although the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana
University collected fundraising data for
more than 130 organizations, the data were not complete for
most organizations. These organiza-
tions simply did not have staffing available to process donations
as quickly as they were coming
CHARITABLE RELIEF FUNDRAISING 343

50. in, much less calculate daily totals to report to an independent
organization researching the nonprofit
sector. A frequency count showed that the news stories in the
sample highlighted an additional 14
organizations during the time period examined following the
three disasters. Had the fundraising data
been more complete, statistical analysis could have been run on
these organizations as well, to show
a stronger support for the agenda-setting hypotheses. It would
have been interesting to test the
agenda-setting theory with nonprofits of different sizes (e.g.,
regional, national, and international)
or stature. However, as previously stated, the smaller
organizations simply were unable to provide
this data as timely as the larger nonprofits with many fulltime
professional fundraisers.
One final limitation that needs to be addressed from a public
relations perspective is the
analysis of media relations activities. Unfortunately, specific
media relations efforts, such as dis-
tribution of news releases or pitching stories to the media, were
not archived for public access.
So, it was difficult to measure the nonprofit organizations’
media relations efforts accurately.

51. However, given the interdependent nature of the relationship
between journalists and public rela-
tions practitioners as advocated by Sallot and Johnson (2006), it
was decided that references to
nonprofit organizations by name and inclusion of organizational
spokespeople could represent
reactive media relations activities because the media often
approach organizations involved in
crises for information before information subsidies are ready to
be distributed.
Future Research
The results of this study illustrate how mass communication
theory can be used to broaden the
understanding of both fundraising and public relations
activities. This study explored the
agenda-setting theory by examining three highly unusual events:
international natural disasters.
The significant results from this study may not be
generalizeable to noncrisis conditions.
Additional tests that examine nonprofit issues not involving
disaster relief, such as AIDS or can-
cer research, should retest these hypotheses for the overall
cause and the impact on major orga-
nizations working on these causes. These tests would deepen the

52. understanding of the media’s
influence on charitable giving and help fundraising practitioners
incorporate even more public
relations planning and activities into their program
development. Fortunately, the results provide
a benchmark for future studies examining the impact of media
coverage on nonprofit organiza-
tions’ donations for other crises and more general nonprofit
programs.
Additionally, this study focused exclusively on the role of the
television media in relaying
information about the natural disasters and nonprofit
organizations providing relief effort. How-
ever, other forms of communication may have also played a
significant role in influencing the
public’s behavior. Both word-of-mouth and Internet chatter,
especially for the 2010 Haitian
earthquake, may have increased significantly given the scope of
the disaster. Future research
could examine these venues, as well as the impact of social
media and text messaging to provide
a more comprehensive understanding of the media’s impact on
charitable donations. Given the
increasing amount of scholarship focusing on the intermedia

53. agenda-setting effect that
Web-based news and social media outlets have on traditional
news outlets (and vice versa), it
would be wise to examine the impact of these forms of news
delivery on the public’s charitable
response as well. Then, fundraisers and nonprofit
communication specialists will be in a better
position to strategically advance their organizations’ missions
and programs with their
institutional track records and an established media presence.
344 WATERS
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346 WATERS
Copyright of Journal of Public Relations Research is the
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Running Head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER HERE IN CAPS 1
TITLE OF YOUR PAPER HERE IN CAPS 4
Title of Paper
Your Name
Grand Canyon University: Course Name , number , section
Lisa Arends, Faculty
Date

60. Title of Your Paper
Brief opening that introduces the topic and gives a summary of
what your paper will cover. This is required in all papers and is
listed in the grading rubrics under thesis statement or something
similar.
First Topic
For your papers use a level 1 heading (illustrated above) as
the first heading following your introduction. I would suggest
using assignment requirements shortened into a phrase as
headings. The heading should be bold centered and have
important words capitalized (title case). Break your section
into paragraphs each with its own topic sentence. For papers in
our course I would suggest using only level one headings and
creating one for each required area listed in the grading
rubric/instructions. As illustrated above level 1 heading are
bold centered and in title case ( all words with four or more
letters start with a capital letter).
If you decide to have subsections rather than just using level 1
as I suggest, you would use a level 2 heading like this next.
Subsection Level 2 Heading
Level 2 headings are flush left, bold and use title case.You
would write about your sub section topic here .. eventually
make another sub heading and more level one Headings (Main
sections). Use level 2 headings only if you have subtopics from

61. the main topic. Reminder, they are only used in APA if more
than one is needed.
Subsection Level 2 Heading
This would be the next sub section. Only use a level 2 heading/
sub section if you have at least 2 subsections. You would also
be correct in just using level 1 headings for each main topic and
dividing the sub topics into paragraphs.
Another Topic
I would suggest using a shortened phrase that represents the
assignments requirements as your headings, as it will help you
to organized, and it will section things off so you can focus on
each required topic. Your final level 1 heading will be
“Conclusion” In which you summarize important points from
your paper. Then you would begin the reference page, which is
always on a page of it’s own.
Conclusion
A brief review of important points your paper covered goes
here. Never introduce new information in your conclusion.
References
Arends, L (2018). Title in regular font without title case. DOI
or retrieved from info. You can
find info on how to format references in our APA resource area.
Some tips, use the organization’s name in the author spot if no
author is listed, and use the hanging indent on all lines except
the first. If there is only one reference the label should say
reference.
I included the references from our unit 2 assigned reading
below.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN]. (2018).
Creating a more highly
qualified nursing workforce. Retrieved from
https://www.aacnnursing.org/News-Information/Fact-

62. Sheets/Nursing-Workforce
American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN]. (2017).
The impact of education on
nursing practice. Retrieved from
http://www.aacnnursing.org/News-Information/Fact-
Sheets/Impact-of-Education
American Nurses Association [ANA]. (n.d.) Scope of practice.
Retrieved from
https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/scope-of-practice/
American Nurses Association [ANA]. (n.d. a) What is nursing.
Retrieved from
https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/workforce/what-
is-nursing/
Dean, J. (2018). Practice and competency development. In
Dynamics in Nursing Art & Science
of Professional Practice. Eds Grand Canyon University
Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs430v/dynamics-in-
nursing-art-and-science-of-professional-
practice/v1.1/#/chapter/3
Introducing Communication Theory:
Analysis and Application
6th edition
Richard West, Lynn H. Turner
©McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Authorized only
for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further
distribution permitted without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.

63. 1
Chapter 21
Agenda Setting Theory (AST)
©McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Authorized only
for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further
distribution permitted without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Chapter Overview
History of agenda setting research
Assumptions of AST
Two levels of agenda setting
Three-part process of agenda setting
Expansions and refinements to AST
Integration, critique, and closing
©McGraw-Hill Education.
AST at a Glance
The media play an important part in shaping social and political
reality
The public learns how much importance to attach to an issue by
the attention given to it by the media
The media may determine what issues are important
©McGraw-Hill Education.
Introduction
Media
Tell people what is important by the number of times they

64. report a story
Indicate what is important by what features of a story they
emphasize and which they do not
©McGraw-Hill Education.
History of Agenda Setting Research
Pretheoretical conceptualizing
Park - Editors are gatekeepers
Lippmann - Mass media connect “the world outside and the
pictures in our heads”
Lasswell
Surveillance
Correlation
©McGraw-Hill Education.
History of Agenda Setting Research (continued)
Establishing the theory
McCombs & Shaw (1972)
Examined the public and the media’s agendas during the 1968
presidential election
©McGraw-Hill Education.
Assumptions of Agenda Setting Theory
The media establish an agenda and in so doing are not simply
reflecting reality, but shaping and filtering it for the public
The media’s concentration on the issues that comprise their
agenda influence the public’s agenda, and these together
influence the policymakers’ agenda
The public and policymakers have the possibility to influence
the media's agenda as well

65. ©McGraw-Hill Education.
Two Levels of Agenda Setting
Media framing
Size of headlines
Photographs included with a story
A story’s overall length and placement
Visuals accompanying a story
Priming
Cognitive process whereby what the media present temporarily
influences what people think about afterwards
©McGraw-Hill Education.
Three-Part Process of Agenda Setting
The media agenda affects the public agenda, which in turn
impacts the policy agenda
Complicating factors
Salience
Credibility
Conflicting evidence
Shared values
Relevance
Uncertainty
©McGraw-Hill Education.
Expansions and Refinements
Agenda Setting merged with ideas of Uses and Gratifications
Theory
Who sets the media agenda?
High-power source and high-power media

66. High-power source and low-power media
Lower-power source and high-power media
Both media and source are low power
Intermedia influence and pack journalism
©McGraw-Hill Education.
Integration
Communication tradition
Socio-psychological
Communication context
Mass/media
Approach to knowing
Positivistic/empirical
©McGraw-Hill Education.
Critiques of AST
Scope
May be too large or too small
Media framing should be a separate theory
Utility
May not apply in new media environment
Heurism
Hundreds of studies
Applied to various topics in different countries
©McGraw-Hill Education.