Die Agenda — ein Konstrukt des Rezipienten?

The objective of this study is to integrate schema theory into the agenda-setting model. We examined the influence of cognitive schemas on the perception of political issues presented in the media. We used a multi-method-design to scrutinize 25 young adults’ perception of the television debates between chancellor Schröder and his challenger during the 2002 German election campaign. Before the debates took place, participants were interviewed, using a standardized questionnaire. After having watched the debates in familiar surroundings, participants were asked to reproduce the discussed issues by a non-standardized, open questionnaire. Additionally, the debates were analyzed and the issues discussed were ranked. Results indicate that recipients pay more attention to political issues already clearly anchored in their issue schemas, and remember those issues better than others. Our results underline that a further inclusion of schema theory into the agenda-setting model is necessary to better reconstruct the process of political information processing.